Foreword
The UK mid‑market is traditionally a fertile ground for the roll-out and execution of buy-and-build, strategic growth, market consolidation and other iterations of the repeat acquisition strategy.
With that in mind, this report focuses on buy‑and‑build and growth-by-acquisition strategies pursued by prolific acquirers across the UK mid‑market, drawing on a screened, sample‑based dataset of both corporates and PE-backed platforms. At its core, the analysis examines those buyers for whom acquisition approached on an intentionally repeatable basis is central to their business plan.
What emerges is a picture of mutually resilient but sometimes diverging trends. Across the period 2021-2025, buy‑and‑build activity has remained a defining feature of mid‑market M&A, despite pronounced macro‑economic volatility, interest rate uncertainty and political and diplomatic instability. However, the strategic and business drivers behind that activity can differ meaningfully between private equity and corporates.
Alongside the data, this report combines market experience from Stevens & Bolton’s Corporate team with perspective drawn from active participants across the buy‑and‑build ecosystem.
This report marks the first in what we intend to be an annual series, tracking how buy‑and‑build continues to evolve as a core feature of the UK mid‑market. We also believe the time is right to recognise buy‑and‑build as a market in its own right, one that cuts across traditional sector boundaries and reflects a distinct form of strategic specialism, defined more by approach and execution than by industry.
Our aim is not simply to report on what has happened, but to comment on what differentiates successful repeat acquirers, where momentum is heading and how the next phase of UK mid‑market consolidation may unfold.
Joe Bedford
Head of Corporate, Stevens & Bolton
“Buy‑and‑build has become an increasingly important feature of UK mid‑market M&A as a deliberately orchestrated strategy for businesses seeking to grow at pace, build scale, enhance capability or substantially expand market presence. There is, however, a real art in doing it well.”