MarktoMarket’s Inaugural Small and Mid-Cap M&A Conference

On 3rd March, MarktoMarket hosted its first Small and Mid-Cap M&A Conference in London. The event sold out in under 48 hours and welcomed close to 150 attendees. Held at the Schroders’ London headquarters in the heart of the City, in partnership with Cazenove Capital, the conference brought together M&A advisers, corporate development professionals, lawyers, debt advisers and a broad cross-section of the small and mid-market M&A community for a full day of keynote presentations, panel discussions and networking.

The Programme

The day opened with a welcome from Michael Magnay of Cazenove Capital, followed by a data-led keynote from MarktoMarket’s Doug Lawson who used our recently published M&A indices to give attendees an overview of where UK M&A market stands heading into 2026. Craig Cheetham and Amit Bagga from Fellwood Advisory followed with  session on the M&A debt landscape, unpacking the practical differences between high-street banks and alternative lenders and how debt can be deployed strategically in lower mid-market deals. The morning closed with a panel session on what lower mid-market PE investors are really looking for, chaired by Matthew Burns and featuring Richard Pindar from Literacy Capital, James Smallridge from Soho Square and Julian Carr from Ethos Partners.

The afternoon opened with Cahal Dowds of Continuum Advisory Partners on consolidation trends in Professional Services – a sector that has seen a marked rise in deal activity in recent years. Jonathan Bates-Kawachi of n Industries, then made the case for the permanent capital model, exploring why it is increasingly resonating with business owners who want an alternative to the traditional PE exit. The conference closed with a panel discussion on PE buy-and-builds from the portfolio company perspective moderated by Diogo Freitas, with Ryan Imison from Network Plus, Philip Sarthou from Obsequio Group and Gary Barford from Broadstone as panellists.

Key Themes and Takeaways

Several themes emerged consistently across the day’s sessions.

Despite the noise around the increasing number of PE-backed acquirers, trade buyers remain the dominant force in UK M&A, accounting for 70% of deal activity in 2025 against 21% for PE-backed buyers and just 9% for direct PE acquisitions. While overall, deal volumes were lower last year, MarktoMarket’s initial data and the mood in the room reflected cautious optimism about 2026.

In the lower mid-market, there is an increasing sophistication around deal structuring, exit planning and niche funding strategies, while permanent capital vehicles are gaining traction as a credible alternative to the traditional PE model.

Professional services, compliance, facilities management and managed services providers are all drawing attention, with the legal sector in particular recording a marked increase in deal volume over the past year.

As always, much of the day’s value was found in the conversations between sessions,  with the M&A community catching up with old connections and making new ones.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to making the day such a strong success. We are grateful to our partner Cazenove Capital and our sponsors; PryceWilliams, Saffery and Asset Match, whose support made the event possible.

We look forward to hosting you at our next event. Please get in touch with Kathryn Stevenson (Kathryn.stevenson@marktomarket.io t) to learn more about sponsorship and speaking opportunities.

View some photos of the conference below