London-based Lava Advisory Partners has secured £8 million in debt financing from specialist SME lender Beechbrook Capital, as the boutique M&A firm positions itself to capture an anticipated surge in UK takeover activity.

Founded in 2020 and B Corp-certified, Lava Advisory Partners said the funding will support hiring and a relocation to a larger office as the firm enters a phase of accelerated expansion. The company, which employs approximately 20 staff, reported a profit of just under £1 million in its most recent annual accounts. The B Corp credential, which certifies meeting standards on social and environmental performance, has become a differentiator for professional services firms seeking to stand out in a crowded advisory market.

Lava said it evaluated multiple funding structures before settling on debt financing, a decision that allows the firm to remain fully employee-owned without taking on equity investment linked to a future sale or exit. The choice reflects a broader pattern among UK professional services firms, where maintaining partner autonomy and avoiding external equity obligations have become priorities for firms betting on long-term independence.

The advisory firm targets founder-led mid-market companies valued between £20 million and £200 million, a segment that accounts for a substantial share of UK deal volumes and has historically been resilient even during broader M&A downturns.

Paul Joyce, a partner at Lava, pointed to prolonged market uncertainty as a driver of latent dealmaking demand. "Over the last two to three years there's been so much volatility in the market: we've had tariffs, we've had interest rate rises, we've had political change, new chancellors coming in, more prime ministers," he told City AM.

"I think what we're seeing is real pent up demand that's been formed from that uncertainty starting to unleash into the market," Joyce added. "We're getting a lot of activity and we're finding that our slightly differentiated approach really resonates with owner managers and helping us to beat some of our bigger competitors."

Joyce also highlighted strong inbound interest from US private equity firms seeking UK acquisition targets. "There's so much capital in the US trying to buy a relatively small number of attractive businesses that naturally they're casting their net out a little bit wider and the UK is a very natural home for that capital," he said. UK mid-market companies have attracted sustained interest from US buyers in recent years, drawn by comparatively favourable valuations relative to American equivalents.

"You get a US buyer who's keen to deploy into Europe, but you've got a UK buyer who is keen to understand the US market and having somebody with close proximity to that market is really beneficial," Joyce explained.

Looking ahead, Joyce expressed optimism about the autumn deal pipeline while acknowledging potential policy headwinds. "We think post September, once people get back from their summer holidays, I think we'll see another good run of activity. It's going to be interesting to see the impact of the budget, Andy Burnham's first…but we feel very positive."