Growth through acquisition is an increasingly prominent element of corporate strategy, often built around successive acquisitions. In 2025, nearly half of the 1,076 SME transactions recorded in France were acquired by portfolio companies, backed by investment funds pursuing buy & build strategies, performing multiple acquisitions within a given sector to accelerate their growth. The M&A market is also attracting an increasingly diverse range of buyers: with transaction volumes up 16%, with 55% of the 4,435 transactions concerning French targets acquired by international buyers, as reported by PwC.
For a business looking to expand into a new geographic region, the challenge is twofold:
- Remotely managing execution of the transaction,
- Acquiring knowledge of an unfamiliar business environment.
Outsourced M&A fully addresses both challenges and provides an enhanced level of care, particularly valued by investors.
An Extension of the Client’s Team
Beyond classic M&A mandates, that provide support on a transaction-by-transaction basis, outsourced M&A secures the client access to a team acting as an extension of its own organisation throughout the period of its active acquisition-led growth phase. The service covers the entire transaction cycle; the adviser works with the client’s team to refine the acquisition strategy and investment criteria, creates a pipeline of potential targets, approaching their shareholder-managers. Support includes financial analysis and valuation work, assistance with negotiations and transaction structure, coordination of legal, financial and other advisers. Finally, it covers management of the process through signing and closing, then assistance with all-important post-acquisition integration and operational transition matters.
This model is particularly well adapted to supporting strategies involving a series of acquisitions, where execution speed is critical. The team is operational from the moment the mandate is signed, employing established methods and well-proven tools. It can manage several processes in parallel rather than sequentially, reducing the interval between transactions. In addition to deep knowledge of the market, growing familiarity with the client’s business, priorities and expectations acquired throughout the engagement help improve the speed and quality of executing each new acquisition cycle.
The service is particularly compelling for an international business established overseas looking to enter into a new geography. It may have a strong understanding of its own market and current territories, but not necessarily of the local business environment, regulatory and legal frameworks, culture, negotiation practices or key market actors. Working with an expert team with deep understanding of both the sector and the business environment can significantly improve the chances of successful execution. The business can remotely deploy its strategy, while the outsourced team combines financial expertise with local market knowledge to ensure rapid execution and hands-on support, including in complex operations.
Example of a rapid buy & build project: Kippax Group
Hong Kong-based Kippax, a group specialising in the management and distribution of cosmetics in the APAC region, sought to build a portfolio of European premium fragrance brands. It entrusted this project to AURIS Finance’s outsourced M&A team, who quickly identified, approached and analysed a large number of independent European brands, the vast majority of whom were not involved in any formal sales process. Running several processes simultaneously enabled Kippax to complete three acquisitions within eight months — Bastille Paris, Maison Detaille and ASKLÖV — forming an initial portfolio of complementary brands with distinct positioning.
The AURIS Finance team also supported Kippax on the ground, including visits to production and distribution facilities, transition meetings with the previous fragrance owners, facilitating discussions between stakeholders with different cultures, languages and business practices. Kippax was therefore able to deploy its European growth strategy remotely while benefiting from a local presence and the execution capabilities required to support its development.
Nora Lee, Kippax’s Chief Growth Officer, commented on AURIS Finance’s support: “We are extremely grateful to the AURIS outsourced M&A team in making our build-up project a reality. We were particularly impressed by their ability to rapidly source a large number of quality targets for us and by their excellent and comprehensive support throughout the process. We would highly recommend this team to anyone looking for a European M&A firm to accompany their buy & build project.”
For a company pursuing an acquisition-led growth strategy, outsourced M&A therefore combines rapid execution capabilities, transaction expertise, local market knowledge and hands-on support extending through to the integration of acquired companies. It provides speed, flexibility and cost advantages over establishing in-house M&A capabilities.
AURIS Finance supports the management teams of mid-sized companies and SMEs, as well as French and international groups, with their acquisition-led growth strategies, providing an outsourced M&A team from strategy definition through to post-acquisition integration.
