Who will buy your client's company? What 1.6 million acquisitions tell sell-side advisors
On the sell side, the buyer universe decides how much competitive tension a process can build. Yet buyer lists are often assembled from experience, a handful of known names and whoever made the headlines last. Our analysis of more than 1.6 million recorded acquisitions offers a data-based view of who actually buys, how often and from where.
This article translates the findings of our industry report M&A as a System into practical implications for M&A advisors, investment bankers and anyone building a buyer longlist for a sale process.
This article covers one chapter. The full report also looks at the role of financial investors, the geographic hotspots of M&A, the outlook for next year and the assessments of six M&A experts. For more insights, download the report M&A as a System here for free.
In this article you'll learn:
- Which buyer groups belong in the core of almost every buyer universe
- Why recent acquisition activity is a stronger signal than a single past deal
- What occasional strategic buyers need from a process to get to signing
- Why buyer searches in Germany should not stop at the major cities
Five data points for your next buyer list
What the acquisition data means on the sell side
| Finding | Figure | What it means for the buyer list |
|---|---|---|
| Concentration | Top 10% of acquirers make 56% of all acquisitions | A relatively small group of serial acquirers is relevant in many processes. Know them in your segment. |
| Financial investors | 19% of acquirers, 36% of acquisitions | Financial investors belong in the core group of almost every longlist. |
| Momentum | 85% of companies with 100+ deals were active in the past two years, vs. 11% of one-deal companies | Recent activity says more about buying intent than a single historic deal. |
| Buying pattern | 8% strategic, 92% opportunistic | Most buyers acquire occasionally. Check frequency, not just whether a company has ever bought. |
| Geography | Germany 3rd in Europe, first German city only 10th | Relevant buyers are spread across regions, not concentrated in a few hubs. |
Serial acquirers and financial investors: the core of the universe
More than half of all recorded acquisitions come from the most active tenth of acquirers, and financial investors account for more than a third. These buyers have run comparable processes many times, have established workflows and short decision paths, and build their pipelines long before a sale process starts. For a sell-side process, they are the group that can move fastest.
“There are recurring players that acquire frequently because they operate across industries. Other buyers, such as strategic acquirers, tend to pursue acquisitions more selectively.” Jens M. Wellbrock, Managing Director, Renneberg
For each active buyer, three data points help assess fit quickly: acquisition frequency, typical target size (revenue or EBITDA) and preferred region or submarket. Together they show whether a buyer is realistically in the market for this specific asset.
Separate active buyers from dormant ones
A deal from ten years ago is a weak signal. The data shows a clear link between experience and current activity: of companies with exactly one acquisition, only 11% were active again in the past two years. For companies with 26 to 50 acquisitions, it is 60%, and for those with more than 100, it is 85%. Flagging which buyers have acquired in the past 24 months makes a longlist much easier to prioritize.
Do not drop the occasional strategic buyer
92% of acquirers act opportunistically, but that does not make them irrelevant. A strategic buyer with a strong fit may only acquire once, and still be the buyer with the highest synergies. These buyers typically need more support in the process. The experts we interviewed point to two reasons:
- Integration concerns: according to Dirk Sachse of CFN Corporate Finance Nord, the fear that integration will fail is even greater than the concern about broken-deal costs
- Ability to close: Dr. Dirk Pramann of Mition believes significantly more companies enter processes than actually complete a deal
For advisors, this means addressing integration questions early and assessing a buyer's transaction capability, not just strategic fit, before investing time in a bidder.
Look beyond the obvious cities
Germany ranks third in Europe by number of acquirers, yet Munich, its strongest city, only ranks tenth among European cities with 0.95% of European acquirers. Activity is spread across Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and beyond. A buyer search that focuses on the most prominent locations captures only part of the market.
“In Germany, a good target does not necessarily have to be based in Munich, Frankfurt, or Düsseldorf, and neither does a good acquirer.” Daniel Funk, CEO & Co-Founder, CVT Partner
How to apply this in your next mandate
- Start from acquisition history: who bought in the segment over the past 24 months, how often, at what size and where
- Mark active and dormant buyers to prioritize outreach
- Include financial investors as a standard block, not as an afterthought
- Add strategic buyers with strong fit, even if they rarely acquire, and plan for more process support
- Widen the geographic radius by three to five regions you would not normally cover
Done manually, this means checking dozens of sources for every mandate. With a continuously updated global acquisition database, the same overview takes minutes rather than days.
Get the full industry report
The full report contains the complete buyer analysis, the European country and city ranking, the outlook for next year and six expert perspectives from M&A advisory, private equity and audit. For more insights, download the report M&A as a System here for free.
Frequently asked questions
Which buyers belong on a sell-side longlist?+
Based on the acquisition data, the core usually consists of serial acquirers active in the segment and financial investors, complemented by strategic buyers with a strong fit, even if they rarely acquire.
How important are financial investors as buyers?+
Very important. In the StrategyBridgeAI dataset, financial investors make up 19% of acquirers but account for 36% of all recorded acquisitions.
How can I tell whether a potential buyer is still active?+
Check whether it has acquired in the past 24 months. 85% of companies with more than 100 acquisitions were active in the past two years, compared with 11% of companies that have made only one acquisition.
Why do strategic buyers drop out of sale processes?+
The experts interviewed for the report point to concerns about integration and to limited ability to close, often due to resources and process know-how rather than capital.
Should buyer searches in Germany focus on the major cities?+
No. Germany's M&A activity is decentralized. Munich, the strongest German city, ranks only tenth in Europe, and relevant buyers are spread across many regional business centers.
Want to build a data-based buyer universe for your next mandate? Book a demo and see StrategyBridgeAI live with your own use case.
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