Frequently asked questions

After the benchmark, we work with you to execute your value creation plan. Our approach is an ongoing, cyclical process. This proven process is informed by product development best practice, typically taking you through an agile and customer-centric process of ideation, research, test & learn experiments, planning and financial modelling, build, and go-to-market launch.

We prioritise a small number of high-impact value drivers linked directly to EBITDA growth and multiple expansion. Each initiative is validated financially which ensures every action contributes measurably to Enterprise Value.

Clients describe the experience as rigorous, energising, and honest. We act with a spirit of guardianship, backing well-evidenced risks and challenging assumptions when value is at stake.

It begins with a deep-dive validation process to test strategic pre-engagement hypotheses. We work closely with the client project team throughout this stage to ensure that their views are fully heard and understood and to ensure that we are building on their expertise and insight to inform the next stage of the engagement.

The objective is clarity and alignment around a set of shared goals and outcomes, including the highest-return growth levers and quick wins, and informs the next phase of the engagement.

A typical corporate finance engagement with Collingwood is tailored specifically to our client’s objectives, ownership structure, and long-term ambitions.

We advise across the full spectrum of corporate finance services, including sell-side (100% sale to strategic acquirers, and minority / majority investment from private equity, as well as other capital events including management buy-outs) and buy-side (strategic review, market assessment, deal advisory), as well as transaction readiness and strategic assessment reviews.

Our approach is underpinned by deep specialist expertise in information, media, and events business models and extensive deal experience across North America, UK, Europe, and beyond.

Collingwood works with ambitious businesses, shareholders, and management teams on the sale of their business. This may involve a 100% sale to a strategic acquirer, a minority or majority investment from a private equity investor, or other capital events, including management buyouts.

Throughout every engagement, our focus is on delivering an expertly tailored process that maximises value, minimises risk, and finds the right long-term partner for the business. Our role is three fold:

• First, we increase the likelihood of a deal completing. Transactions are complex, high-pressure, and never guaranteed to complete without disciplined execution and experienced leadership.
• Second, we improve the terms of the deal, from headline value, to deal structure, to broader commercial terms.
• Third, we find the right partner for the business. The ultimate buyer or investor has a direct and material influence over the certainty of a transaction, the terms of the transaction, and future performance on which shareholder value is often dependent.

We combine rigorous preparation, strategic positioning, and disciplined execution with trusted, long-standing relationships across a global buyer and investor universe.

A sell-side engagement with Collingwood is structured around four clear stages: Preparation, Go-to-Market, Bidding, and Legal Documentation & Due Diligence. While every transaction is different, this framework ensures a disciplined, well-managed process that maximises value, protects shareholders, and improves certainty of completion.

1. Preparation

We take the time upfront to ensure the business, management team, and shareholders are fully prepared for the rigours of a transaction process. This includes ensuring all information presented to buyers is accurate, robust, reliable, and capable of being updated with real-time reporting where required.

A core differentiator of Collingwood’s approach is the creation of a comprehensive deal data book. This covers detailed financial and commercial information and acts as the single source of truth for the entire transaction.

The deal data book underpins all stages of the transaction; including the sales material, trading updates, and due diligence, providing clarity, reducing uncertainty, and driving competitive tension. This preparation-led, data-driven approach is a market-leading feature of how we execute deals.

During this stage, we also work closely with shareholders and management to develop high-quality sales materials, including the Confidential information Memorandum, and to map the global buyer and investor universe. Initial priority engagement with the most relevant buyers often begins at this point.

2. Go-to-Market

Once the business is fully prepared and we have answered the questions we expect buyers to ask later in the process, we formally go to market.

As lead adviser, Collingwood leads all engagement with buyers and investors. Initial approaches are made on an anonymous basis. Interested parties are required to sign confidentiality agreements before receiving the CIM and entering the process.
Our role at this stage is to control messaging, manage engagement, and ensure momentum is maintained while preserving competitive tension.

3. Bidding

Every bidding strategy is tailored to the specific transaction and influenced by factors such as shareholder objectives, buyer appetite, market conditions, and the breadth of the buyer pool.

Typically, the process will involve a small number of bidding rounds. As the process progresses, buyers are given increased access to management and more detailed information – via the deal data book – to further clarify their offers and improve terms. Our objective is to drive bids to a level that is both acceptable to shareholders and deliverable by the ultimate buyer.

Collingwood leads all negotiations on your behalf, always in close alignment with you. This stage typically culminates in the negotiation and signing of heads of terms, which set out the agreed commercial terms of the transaction and usually include a period of exclusivity.

4. Legal Documentation & Due Diligence

This stage is critical to both deal completion and shareholder value. Buyers will often seek to renegotiate price or terms at this point. Our job is to robustly defend value, rebut negative price adjustments, minimise risk, and keep the process moving.

As your lead adviser, we manage the entire legal documentation and due diligence process across all parties, working closely with your legal and tax advisers to ensure all parties deliver to the agreed timetable. Our aim is to minimise disruption to management while maintaining momentum and certainty.

Ultimately, this stage concludes with the signing of the legal documentation and completion of the transaction.

It is also important to distinguish between enterprise value and equity value. EBITDA or ARR multiplied by a multiple determines enterprise value.

The amount shareholders ultimately receive is equity value, which is calculated after adjusting for the balance sheet position acquired by the buyer — typically on a cash-free, debt-free basis, and adjusted for a normal level of working capital.

In information, media, and events businesses, items such as deferred revenue can have a material impact on these adjustments. Our role is to negotiate these positions carefully during the bidding process, ensuring balance sheet adjustments are fair, well understood, and deliver the most attractive outcome for shareholders.

Revenue growth expands the top line, whereas value creation specifically increases EBITDA and the valuation multiple applied to it. You can achieve growth without necessarily increasing value if your earnings are unpredictable, your retention is weak, or you’re not in a leading market position. Increasing value requires embedding stable foundations — such as professional governance and structured sales — to improve predictability and the Quality of Earnings (QoE) a buyer is willing to pay for.

The five fundamental drivers of value are High Quality of Earnings (QoE), Market Leadership, Professional Governance, Predictable Growth, and Well-Defined Products. These drivers reduce risk and increase defensibility, directly impacting the valuation multiple.

High Quality of Earnings (QoE)

Strong gross and net revenue retention, high average contract values, diversified customers, and mature client success functions.

Market Leadership & Potential

Demonstrable thought leadership, audience access, share of voice, and exposure to growing or disrupted markets.

Professional Governance, People & Process

Clear decision-making, reliable reporting, scalable systems, and reduced founder dependency.

Fast, Predictable Growth

Consistent organic growth supported by structured sales, marketing, and forecasting.

Great Products with Clear Value Propositions

Strong IP, differentiated positioning, and pricing and packaging aligned to customer value.

In 2026, high-multiple information businesses typically show >90% GRR, >110% NRR, 20% revenue growth, and 40% EBITDA margins. For information business models, due to the high visibility over future revenue, buyers’ EBITDA multiples range from low double-digits to significant premiums beyond 20x. And more often than not, buyers will pay a revenue multiple applied to the true Annual Recurring Revenue level. Scale materially enhances valuation, with a 25% premium typically paid for businesses with at least $5m EBITDA compared to those at $1m.

Tradeshows remain the highest-valued event format, while ‘Mixed Models’ are gaining interest for their ability to diversify revenue and deepen audience engagement. * events: Buyers prioritise ‘Confex’ formats and 1-2-1 buyer meeting programs that drive measurable ROI.

• Media: Digital media models targeted toward brand budgets are seeing muted appetite compared to performance-driven data marketing services.
• Mixed: Combinations of events, media, and information are viewed as highly defensible and command premium multiples in competitive bidding environments.

The critical deal killers in 2026 are trading performance missing projections, time, how information is disclosed, negative Due Diligence findings, and buyers attempting to renegotiate commercial terms. Buyers currently have a low risk appetite, meaning a slip in trading has a disproportionate impact on deal structure. Additionally, many trade buyers now have a minimum EBITDA threshold of $1m, as smaller assets often do not demonstrate the level of ROI or overall value accretion for the acquirer. Buyers will also look at the opportunity cost of looking at other assets and the greater risk associated with acquiring a smaller business.

A strategic CFO or fractional FD should be hired when the business requires a commercial lens for growth, fundraising, and M&A beyond simple bookkeeping. The right finance leader helps embed a strong governance cadence and delivers accurate, timely reporting, which allows the CEO to make better decisions and provides buyers with the transparency needed to pay a premium.

New product development increases value when it is managed through a rigorous process. You must ensure the product is desirable to the customer, financially viable, and feasible to deliver. In an AI-driven landscape, media businesses must leverage proprietary data as a defensive moat to ensure the product is a value-creation lever rather than a distraction.