The M&A process, end to end

An acquisition runs through five stages: strategy, sourcing and screening, valuation and diligence, structuring and negotiation, and integration. Most first-time acquirers over-invest in the deal (stages three and four) and under-invest in the bookends. The bookends are where returns are made or lost.

Strategy is choosing the play before the target: horizontal consolidation, vertical integration, a roll-up, an LBO, a bolt-on. The archetype drives everything downstream, from the screening criteria to how you finance and integrate. Sourcing is then a filtering problem: define the criteria the thesis implies, screen a universe, and rank by fit, not by whatever crossed your desk.

Valuation and diligence is where you confirm the story and find the risks. The point is not to produce a number, it is to decide, with the risks priced in. Structuring turns that decision into terms: price, leverage, earn-outs, and the capital to fund it. Deals break here when the equity cheque and the available capital do not line up.

Integration is the stage that determines whether the thesis was real. Value that looked locked in the model has to be realized in the business. Track it against what you projected, or you will not know if the deal worked until it is too late to act.

Qapital’s agents run the valuation, the diagnosis, and the capital match on your real numbers.