Global notes from owner-led transactions.

Field note

Selling a Finnish family business: what changes after 2025

Generational succession is reaching its peak in Finland. Three things owners are doing differently than they were five years ago.

Diagnostic

Customer concentration: when 41% is fine and 22% is fatal

The number a buyer underwrites is rarely the headline percentage. We unpack what really drives the discount.

Process

Earn-outs for owner-operators: the case for fewer of them

Earn-outs shift risk in subtle, asymmetric ways. Four cases where you should refuse one outright.

Field note

The two-week kill: why processes die in week 14

Most failed processes show their first warning sign about three months in. Here is the pattern, and how to break it.

Diagnostic

Working capital: the cash that disappears at completion

A primer on the working-capital peg, the single most-underestimated negotiation in lower-mid-market M&A.

Field note

Why we declined three engagements last quarter

Three reasons we have walked away from mandates. None of them were about size, sector, or fees.