20 August 2026
As part of our Dealmakers’ Perspective series, we hear from members of the Translink Corporate Finance UK team on the key trends shaping the M&A market and what they mean for business owners, buyers and investors.
In this edition, Director Declan Savage explores the interest in UK SMEs from overseas buyers, what makes an international buyer credible to UK business owners and how buyers can build a successful acquisition pipeline in an increasingly competitive market.
What is the most significant trend currently shaping the M&A market, and what impact is it having on business owners, buyers and investors?
We are seeing an increase in appetite for ‘beachhead’ acquisitions from overseas based PE backed or large corporates, aimed at acquiring a relatively small business (typically £10m – £50m deal value) to establish an operational base in the UK before committing to a wider expansion plan. These strategies are often focused on making ‘off market’ approaches to secure assets prior to the owner starting a traditional auction process.
The rapid advancement of AI has made the outreach process easier, allowing buyers to automate many of the previously manual workstreams: drawing up target lists, preparing outreach material and managing the communication flows.
The result is that many business owners now regularly receive unsolicited approaches – some credible, some not – and therefore genuine approaches can be easily missed or ignored.
Cross-border dynamics also play a significant part in how well an acquisition strategy works in practice. An approach made directly from overseas, without local context or a UK-based presence, can struggle to gain traction with owners who are naturally cautious about an unfamiliar name. This is also true of UK corporates attempting to execute acquisition strategies overseas.
Across the Translink group, we consistently find that outreach led locally, in native language and specific to the target company is far more effective at building the credibility and trust needed to open a conversation than generic outreach run centrally.
What are the key characteristics that make an overseas buyer approach particularly attractive to shareholders in today’s market?
Serious buyers must differentiate themselves by demonstrating from the outset why their approach is credible and relevant. In our experience, the approaches that owners engage with the most are those that give them:
- A clear reason why their business represents a good fit, evidencing that the buyer understands what it does and how it would add value
- A named, senior individual on the other side of the conversation from the outset, whether from the buyer or their adviser, rather than an anonymous/junior led approach
- The sense that their own priorities, personal as well as commercial, matter more to the buyer than an early conversation about price
- Confidence that the buyer can actually complete – acquisitions delivered to date and funding already in place
Looking ahead 12 to 18 months, what opportunities and challenges do you expect to define the M&A landscape, and what should buyers be doing now to prepare?
Looking ahead, mass volume outreach will increase as the capabilities of AI become more mainstream. This is likely to save time and cost for buyers, but may also result in more generic, poor-quality approaches and owners therefore becoming less responsive.
With this in mind, buyers who combine a disciplined, well-evidenced approach with local, on the ground presence, will be best placed to convert the right relationship into a completed deal.
For buyers looking to build a credible off-market pipeline into the UK, preparation is key. Areas to focus on would be:
- Spend time building a focused, well-researched list of potential targets, with clear rationale for each one
- Invest in local presence, either through an on the ground M&A team or advisers acting for you
- Set aside senior personnel to be available for early calls with potential targets and with capacity to maintain momentum on multiple processes at the same time
- Have funding capacity and decision-making authority in place ahead of starting outreach
To discuss your business or potential transaction opportunities, get in touch with a member of the Translink Corporate Finance UK team.
