Sell-Side M&A

Sell-side M&A is the process of preparing a business for sale, running a structured sale process, and negotiating with buyers to maximise value for the seller. The sell-side advisor — typically an investment bank or boutique M&A firm — represents the seller’s interests throughout.

What Sell-Side Advisors Do

A sell-side advisor’s role spans preparation, marketing, and execution:

• Preparation: Financial analysis, valuation, identifying the equity story, preparing the Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM), management presentation, and deal teaser
• Buyer targeting: Compiling a buyer universe of strategic and financial acquirers, prioritising outreach based on fit and conviction
• Process management: Running the sale process — first-round bids, management presentations, final bids, exclusivity, and due diligence
• Negotiation: Advising on deal structure, pricing, representations, and closing mechanics through to signing and completion

Sell-Side vs Buy-Side

Sell-side advisors represent sellers. Buy-side advisors represent buyers — helping identify targets, advise on pricing, and manage the acquisition process. The same firm can act on both sides in different transactions, though not in the same deal.

Sell-Side Materials

Pitchbook generation is central to sell-side work. Key documents include:

• Teaser — a one-to-two page anonymous overview shared before NDAs
• CIM — the full deal document shared with qualified buyers post-NDA
• Management presentation — a live presentation by management to shortlisted buyers
• Pitchbook — used in the mandate pitch phase to win the engagement

Bookbuild automates the pitchbook and CIM generation workflow, producing adviser-quality materials from deal inputs in a fraction of the time of manual preparation.