Selling a business you've spent years building is the most consequential financial decision of your life. Most founders do this once, with no benchmark for what good looks like and no leverage against professional buyers who run transactions every year. Corvian Advisory manages your complete sell-side mandate across UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman – preparation, independent valuation, CIM, buyer outreach, negotiation, and close. CFA. CA. ACCA. Big 4-trained. 100% confidential throughout.
Across the GCC, professional acquirers and PE funds run transactions every year. Most sellers do it once. That experience gap consistently produces the same outcomes: underpriced deals, poorly structured terms, missed international buyers, and post-closing disputes.
A sell-side advisor levels the playing field – positioning your business to attract multiple credible buyers, driving competitive tension to push price to its genuine market ceiling, and negotiating the structure that protects you after completion.
"The best time to start preparing your business for sale is two years before you want to sell. The second best time is today. Either way, the preparation determines the price."
Corvian Advisory's sell-side mandate covers the complete exit lifecycle: preparation, valuation, institutional-quality CIM, targeted buyer outreach across UAE, GCC, India, UK, Europe, and Asia, managed due diligence, negotiation, and post-close obligations.
Multiple credible buyers in parallel, each knowing others are in the room. Bilateral negotiation gives away leverage from the first conversation.
Buyers form their first impression from the CIM. Investment-bank standard CFA-quality financial analysis and independent EBITDA normalisation.
We approach strategic buyers, PE-backed platforms, and family offices across GCC, EMEA, and APAC – finding the buyer who values you highest.
Anonymised teaser, NDAs before information sharing, staged release, qualified buyer list – your reputation protected at every stage.
Earn-outs, working capital peg, escrow, reps and warranties, seller lock-up – we negotiate the full package, not just the headline.
The gap between what a UAE or GCC business is worth today and what it could achieve in a well-run, well-prepared sale process is frequently 20–40%. Pre-sale preparation adds measurable value and prevents sales from collapsing mid-process on avoidable issues.
For businesses planning an exit 6–24 months ahead, we run a pre-sale readiness review identifying top issues affecting valuation or completion. For businesses ready now, we run preparation in parallel with CIM production.
Common issues we find: unaudited management accounts, owner-dependent revenue, over-reliance on key people, outstanding UAE CT registration issues, related-party transactions at non-arm's-length terms, and EOSB liabilities not properly accounted for.
Audited accounts, consistent policies, documented EBITDA normalisation bridge.
Signed contracts, pricing documentation, customer concentration analysis.
Documented processes and management depth demonstrating the business runs without you.
CT registration, filing status, free zone qualification, related-party pricing review.
Trade licence, visa compliance, WPS records, contract review, dispute resolution.
Designed to generate competitive tension, maintain confidentiality throughout, and maximise price and terms. Same advisor leading every stage.
Exit strategy, timing, valuation expectations, pre-sale preparation, data room foundation.
Independent valuation establishing your price anchor; institutional-quality CIM and teaser produced.
Targeted, confidential approach to 15–30 qualified buyers – strategic, PE, family offices, international.
Indicative offers received, shortlist selected, management presentations run, all Q&A managed through us.
Best offer selected, exclusivity negotiated, buyer due diligence managed protecting your position.
Final price and terms, SPA commercial review, regulatory approvals, completion, post-close support.
Managed personally by the same principal from first conversation to deal close.
Multi-methodology valuation before any buyer conversation – DCF, comparables, and asset-based approaches calibrated to GCC deal data.
A CIM to investment bank standards – not a PowerPoint with accounts attached. Generates offers and competitive tension from the first read.
We identify buyers most likely to value your business highest – UAE/GCC strategics, PE platforms, Indian corporates, European strategics.
We control what buyers see and when, preventing unmanaged diligence from creating renegotiation leverage.
Earn-outs, working capital peg, escrow, and rep & warranties can add or subtract significant value from the headline price.
Family exits carry legacy, governance, and emotional dimensions straightforward trade sales don't. Approached with care and rigour.
The CIM is the single most important document in your sale process – the first substantive thing buyers read, shaping every offer, question, and negotiation position. Most UAE business CIMs are a PowerPoint with management accounts attached. Ours are institutional-grade documents.
A Corvian CIM is produced to investment bank standards: CFA-quality financial analysis with a fully documented normalisation bridge, professional commercial narrative, and a transaction rationale explaining why a buyer should pay a premium.
"The quality of a CIM signals exactly what kind of advisor is running the process – and whether the valuation expectation is worth taking seriously."
Five to seven compelling reasons to acquire, anchoring the thesis before financials.
History, structure, operations, team, and competitive positioning.
3–5 years of accounts, normalised EBITDA bridge, working capital and cash flow.
UAE/GCC market sizing, growth drivers, and your defensible advantages.
Substantiated growth vectors available to a well-resourced buyer.
Deal structure options, consideration mechanism, timeline to completion.
Adjacent-sector businesses acquiring for market share or capability. Often pay highest multiples via synergies.
Foreign corporates using UAE as a GCC platform. Indian conglomerates most active cross-border buyers.
GCC-focused PE funds and platform companies seeking add-ons. Disciplined, process-oriented buyers.
GCC family offices and HNW capital allocators motivated by diversification and yield.
By the time indicative offers arrive, the CIM and buyer outreach have done their job – the negotiation determines whether that work converts into the price and terms you actually deserve. This is where sellers without an advisor consistently give away value they never realise was on the table.
We keep two or more credible buyers live for as long as possible before granting exclusivity. Each bidder negotiates knowing they are not the only option – the single biggest lever on final price.
Earn-outs bridge valuation gaps but shift risk onto the seller if poorly drafted. We negotiate the metrics, timeframe, and control provisions so post-close performance is realistically within your influence.
Buyers routinely use diligence findings to re-trade price after exclusivity is granted, when your leverage is lowest. We pre-empt this with our own diligence-readiness review, so there are no late surprises for a buyer to exploit.
We set your walk-away price and terms before negotiation begins, grounded in the independent valuation – not in negotiation-room emotion. Knowing your floor is what lets you negotiate the ceiling.
A commercially agreed deal can still stall for weeks on closing mechanics if they aren't planned before signing. We sequence every closing dependency in advance so completion happens on the date both sides expect.
Trade licence transfer, DED, free zone authority, DIFC or ADGM approvals, and any sector-specific consents are tracked from signing, not started after, so they don't become the bottleneck to completion.
Locked-box or completion accounts, each shifts economic risk differently between signing and closing. We negotiate the mechanism that protects your net proceeds from erosion between agreement and funds.
Escrow amounts, release triggers, and payment sequencing are agreed and documented before completion day, so there is no ambiguity about when and how you are actually paid.
Representation and warranty survival periods, indemnity caps, non-compete scope, and any transition or handover support you've agreed to provide, set out clearly so your obligations end where the SPA says they end.
Achievable multiple depends on normalised EBITDA, growth trajectory, earnings quality, customer concentration, owner-dependency, audit quality, and deal structure. We produce an independent, CFA-standard valuation before any buyer conversation.
| Sector | EV/EBITDA | Key Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Technology & SaaS | 10x–18x | ARR, churn, NRR, moat |
| Financial Services | 8x–15x | AUM, licence, client retention |
| Healthcare | 8x–14x | Specialist mix, licence |
| Education & Training | 7x–12x | Enrolment, KHDA rating |
| Logistics | 6x–10x | Contract length, routes |
| Real Estate Services | 5x–9x | Transaction volume, brand |
| Professional Services | 5x–9x | Client concentration, contracts |
| F&B & Retail | 4x–8x | Brand, locations, concept |
| Industrial & Manufacturing | 4x–7x | Backlog, asset condition |
Illustrative mid-market ranges based on Corvian Advisory GCC deal intelligence, 2025–2026. Get a full independent valuation →
Financials not institutionally clean; owner remuneration commingled with operating costs. 8 weeks pre-sale preparation before any buyer approach.
Unsolicited offer was 35% below market. Approached 22 strategic buyers across UAE, India, UK, Europe – 6 NDAs, 3 serious offers in 8 weeks.
22-year family business; priorities included price, employee continuity, and cultural fit. Stakeholder alignment took six weeks.
All fees agreed in a signed engagement letter before work begins. Success fee is fully aligned with deal completion.
Covers valuation, CIM production, buyer outreach, process management, and negotiation support. Smaller mandates may carry no retainer.
Payable only on completion, fully aligned with your outcome. Rate reflects deal size – larger deals attract the lower end.
For businesses 6–18 months from a planned exit. Identifies diligence issues before buyers find them.
"The CIM Corvian produced was a different class. Buyers came to meetings already convinced. Four credible offers – the competitive process added over AED 15M to the final price."
"Corvian's independent valuation showed we were about to accept 35% below market. They ran a competitive process and we closed at a price we could not have achieved otherwise."
"Selling a family business after 22 years is not just financial. Corvian managed the family dynamics, kept employees in the dark until the right moment, and exceeded expectations."
Every sell-side mandate is led personally by our senior team – highly qualified, Big 4-trained, and delivered to global standards at boutique pricing.
CFA, CA, ACCA and MSc Finance & Economics qualified – critical for pre-sale EBITDA normalisation and a defensible asking price.
Senior team trained at Big 4 firms and top-tier management consultancies across the UAE and GCC.
Valuation and CIM work that stands up to buyers' auditors, UAE banks and the FTA.
CFA-led delivery at boutique pricing – the principal doing the work, not a junior team.
Six stages: preparation, valuation, CIM production, buyer outreach, due diligence management, and negotiation to close.
4x–18x normalised EBITDA depending on sector, growth, earnings quality, customer concentration, and deal structure.
The primary document shared with buyers – a great CIM generates offers and competitive tension; a poor one gives buyers ammunition to discount.
Typically 6–12 months from mandate signing to completion, including preparation, outreach, diligence, and closing.
A broker lists publicly and matches from a database. An advisor runs a managed, confidential, institutional-grade competitive process.
Anonymised teaser, NDAs before information sharing, controlled buyer list, and staged information release throughout.
By pre-empting it: a diligence-readiness review before exclusivity removes the late surprises buyers use to justify a lower price after you've lost your competing-bidder leverage.
Regulatory filings, trade licence transfer and any free zone or DIFC/ADGM approvals, tracked from signing rather than started after, are usually the deciding factor.
Six stages: preparation, independent valuation, CIM production, buyer outreach, due diligence management, and negotiation and close. A sell-side advisor manages the entire process while you keep running the business.
UAE businesses trade at 4x–18x EBITDA depending on sector, growth, and earnings quality. Technology and healthcare command the highest multiples; industrial and F&B trade at 4x–8x.
A CIM is the primary document presented to potential buyers, covering business overview, normalised financials, growth opportunities, and transaction rationale. A well-prepared CIM makes buyers compete for your business.
A well-run sale typically takes 6–12 months from mandate signing to completion, covering preparation, CIM, outreach, management presentations, due diligence, negotiation, and regulatory approvals.
A broker lists publicly and matches from an existing database. An M&A advisor runs a managed, confidential process, independent valuation, institutional CIM, targeted buyer approach, competitive bidding, and rigorous negotiation.
We begin with an anonymised teaser, use NDAs before sharing identifying information, control the qualified buyer list, and release information in stages, employees and customers typically learn only near completion.
By pre-empting it: a diligence-readiness review before exclusivity removes the late surprises buyers use to justify a lower price after you've lost your competing-bidder leverage.
Regulatory filings, trade licence transfer and any free zone or DIFC/ADGM approvals, tracked from signing rather than started after, are usually the deciding factor.