倫敦的 Lava Advisory Partners 已從專注於中小企業的貸款機構 Beechbrook Capital 獲得 £8 million 債務融資，這家精品併購顧問公司正藉此準備把握英國預期升溫的收購活動。

Lava Advisory Partners 成立於 2020 年，並通過 B Corp 認證。該公司表示，這筆資金將用於招聘，以及搬遷至更大的辦公室，以配合公司進入加速擴張階段。公司目前約有 20 名員工，最近一期年度帳目顯示其利潤略低於 £1 million。B Corp 認證用以證明企業在社會與環境表現方面達標，已成為希望在競爭激烈的顧問市場中脫穎而出的專業服務公司的一項差異化因素。

Lava 表示，在選擇債務融資之前，曾評估多種融資結構；最終採用債務方案，使公司能在不引入與未來出售或退出掛鉤的股權投資下，維持完全員工持有。這一選擇反映出英國專業服務公司更廣泛的趨勢：對希望長期保持獨立性的公司而言，維持合夥人自主權並避免外部股權義務，已成為優先考量。

這家顧問公司鎖定由創辦人主導、估值介於 £20 million 至 £200 million 的中型市場企業；該細分市場占英國交易量相當可觀的比重，並且即使在更廣泛的併購低迷期，也歷來展現韌性。

Lava 合夥人 Paul Joyce 指出，持續的市場不確定性是潛在交易需求累積的主要推動力。"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," 他告訴 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 補充說。"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 也強調，尋找英國收購標的的美國私募股權公司入場興趣強勁。"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," 他說。近年來，英國中型市場公司持續吸引美國買家關注，原因包括相較於美國同類企業具有較具吸引力的估值。

"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 解釋道。

展望未來，Joyce 對秋季交易管線表示樂觀，同時也承認可能存在政策逆風。"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."