Selling a business in Australia
Australia’s M&A market has deepened significantly over the past decade. Private equity activity in the lower and middle market has accelerated, with domestic and international PE firms, family offices, and independent sponsors actively seeking quality Australian businesses in sectors from technology and healthcare to professional services and distribution.
For Australian business owners, this creates real opportunity — if you go to market correctly. The challenge is not finding buyers. It’s finding the right buyers, qualifying them rigorously, and presenting your business in a way that commands a premium price.
What Berngate does differently
We don’t list. We source.
We don’t put your business on a marketplace and wait. We identify the buyers most likely to close — PE firms, family offices, strategic acquirers — and approach them directly with a curated, confidential opportunity.
No tyre-kickers
Every buyer we introduce to your business has been pre-qualified for intent, funding capacity, and fit. You won’t spend time in meetings with people who were never going to close.
Global buyer access
Australian businesses attract significant interest from international buyers — particularly from the US, UK, Singapore, and the Middle East. Our network operates globally, which means more competition for your business and better pricing outcomes.
Sector agnostic
We source across all sectors — technology, professional services, healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, business services, consumer, and more. If your business has strong fundamentals, we can find the right buyer regardless of industry.
Aligned incentives
Our success fee is tied to your outcome. We don’t get paid unless your business sells. That alignment drives the urgency and rigour we bring to every mandate we take on.
Australian sectors with strong buyer appetite
Buyer demand in Australia is currently strongest in the following sectors, though we work across all industries:
- Technology and software (particularly SaaS and B2B platforms)
- Healthcare, aged care, and allied health services
- Professional and business services with recurring revenue
- Manufacturing and specialised industrial services
- Education and vocational training
- Distribution, logistics, and supply chain
- Consumer products and e-commerce with established channels
- Financial services, insurance, and wealth management
Who buys Australian businesses?
The most active acquirers of Australian businesses in the lower and middle market include:
Private equity firms
Both domestic (BGH Capital, Advent Partners, Mercury Capital, Anacacia) and international PE firms actively deploy capital into Australian businesses. They’re typically looking for strong EBITDA, clear growth pathways, and management teams who can execute post-acquisition.
Family offices
High-net-worth family offices — both Australian and international — have become increasingly active in direct acquisitions. They often move faster than PE and take a longer-term view, which can mean less pressure on post-acquisition performance targets.
Independent sponsors
Search funds and independent sponsors operating in Australia and from the US and UK actively seek lower-middle-market Australian businesses as platform acquisitions. They bring operational focus and often offer strong cultural alignment.
Strategic acquirers
Listed and unlisted companies seeking to grow through acquisition — whether to enter new geographies, acquire capability, or consolidate a fragmented market. These buyers often pay the highest prices because the acquisition has direct strategic value beyond financial return.
How the process works
We manage the entire origination-to-introduction process on your behalf. This means understanding your business, your numbers, and your ideal outcome; positioning your business for the right buyer type; sourcing, vetting, and approaching qualified buyers confidentially; managing initial conversations and information sharing; and facilitating the right introduction when the time comes. From there, we hand off to licensed transaction advisors to manage due diligence and close.