Graham acquired McGill's — a 440-person Scottish construction business — out of administration in 2019, proving that credibility, speed and clear thinking can unlock the biggest opportunities.

GUEST

Graham Carling — Entrepreneur and deal maker; acquired McGill's Group, a Scottish Top 500 construction company, out of administration in 2019.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Graham had identified McGill's 18 months before it went into administration and made an approach that went nowhere — until the day it collapsed. By extraordinary coincidence he was sitting in the same hotel when the administrators arrived. Over the following six weeks he negotiated a deal, was named preferred bidder and completed in mid-March 2019. He replaced the entire board, had a new leadership team ready before completion, and within 12 months had turned the business around.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Tracking a business you want to buy — even if nothing happens immediately — means you're positioned when circumstances change.

▸ Administration deals require you to be a credible buyer: the administrator has fiduciary duties and will not compromise their process for an unproven acquirer.

▸ When value is clear, decisions are easy — this principle cuts through the noise of other people's doubts and opinions.

▸ Replacing the leadership team that oversaw the failure is often an early, necessary decision; but it requires having new leadership ready before completion.

▸ The faster you move in an administration, the more value you preserve — every day of delay devalues the business further.

▸ Buying assets (not shares) allows you to leave liabilities behind and start fresh, even in a high-profile, complex situation.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

McGill's went into administration on 1 February 2019. Graham was named preferred bidder by the end of February and completed on 13 March 2019 — a six-week window to conduct limited legal due diligence on a 440-person, £45m-turnover business.

"When value is clear, decisions are easy — that keeps me on the straight and narrow from the noise of other people's opinions."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

Nigel built his digital agency over two decades before discovering acquisition; his first deal was done in four days and his second came while he was on holiday.

GUEST

Nigel Wilkinson — Founder of WNW Digital; has made three acquisitions in the digital marketing sector.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Nigel founded his digital marketing agency 21 years ago, noting he'd written in his diary back in 2009 that he wanted to get into mergers and acquisitions — but it remained a distant aspiration until he found Jonathan Jay's content in 2019. His first acquisition was entirely unplanned: a friend mentioned a local agency had just gone into liquidation on a Friday lunchtime, and by the following Tuesday Nigel had taken control of the servers. His second came on the Thursday of a holiday he'd barely started.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Acquisition opportunities don't always arrive on your timetable — when one appears, the ability to move fast is a genuine competitive advantage.

▸ Buying a liquidated business with no team, no office and a database of clients is high-effort but high-learning: it tests your integration and client retention systems under pressure.

▸ The TUPE 30-day consultation window is a legal requirement — but practically, Nigel compresses it to days, since you can't confidently tell staff a deal is happening until it is.

▸ Letting people go after an acquisition — even kind, blameless people — is one of the harder realities of building a group; it should never be approached lightly.

▸ Growing and combining teams requires active management effort: it doesn't happen passively, and entrepreneurs who thrive on 'new and shiny' must invest in the management discipline.

▸ Your own redundancy can be the inflection point that creates the business you eventually build — Nigel traces his entire career back to a single redundancy.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

First acquisition: a liquidated digital agency. Heard about it Friday at 12:10pm. Contacted the liquidator Monday. Received the invoice Monday evening. Paid Tuesday morning. Took control of client servers Tuesday lunchtime. Four days, start to finish.

"Some bits are really hot, some bits are really freezing — if your head's in the oven and your feet are in the freezer, on average, you're okay."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk

Ian's media career spans four decades, two redundancies and eight acquisitions — and his advice for every deal maker is simply: take action.

GUEST

Ian — Media entrepreneur with 40 years' experience and eight acquisitions across video production, AV staging and photography.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Ian's career began as a film industry runner in Soho and wound through production companies, AV staging, broadcast equipment sales and photography. Two redundancies convinced him to control his own destiny, and he started a business with his mother's support. His first acquisition — a sets and staging division bought from a business splitting its operations — was a strategic move that unlocked major international contracts, including a £350,000 job for Motorola around the year 2000. Over 40 years he has made eight acquisitions, all in the media sector.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

▸ Two redundancies were the making of Ian: they removed the option of employment and forced him to build something of his own.

▸ Your first acquisition doesn't need to be large — Ian's was £30,000, but it acted as a springboard to £350,000 contracts.

▸ Price is not the only variable: the method and timing of payment can matter as much as the number itself.

▸ A strategic acquisition — one that gives you capabilities you can cross-sell to existing clients — can pay for itself many times over.

▸ Selling a business you've lost enthusiasm for is entirely rational; but know that the most likely buyer may be closer than you think.

▸ The person you buy a business from is also a natural candidate to buy it back — seller's remorse is real, and that relationship has value.

DEAL HIGHLIGHT

Ian's first acquisition — a £30,000 sets and staging business — directly enabled the largest contract his company ever won: a £350,000 international event for Motorola, circa 2000. A 10x return from a single strategic deal.

"Go with your gut. If you want to do something, go for it. Find a way to do it. Don't procrastinate."

Learn more: www.dealmakers.co.uk