OUR OFFER
The buy-side reality
Buy-side M&A origination,
designed for corporate M&A teams.
A disciplined, flexible and relationship-driven approach to sourcing off-market strategic opportunities — and keeping them alive over time.
M&A as a Service — flexible, dedicated, aligned.
The buy-side reality
Why your proprietary sourcing
is structurally underutilized.
Insufficient qualified dealflow
Reactive sourcing is no longer enough to identify the best off-market targets. Off-market opportunities require a proactive, structured and continuous approach.
Internal time pressure
M&A teams are absorbed by execution, investment committees, strategic analysis and integration. Origination becomes the primary victim of this pressure.
Dependency on intermediaries
Limited access to non-intermediated targets, structural dependency on auction processes. The best opportunities don't go through investment banks.
No long-term follow-up
Without disciplined follow-up and systematic relationship memory, the best opportunities are lost in silence. Deals are built over months, sometimes years.
"The real bottleneck in corporate M&A is proprietary origination — not execution."
Neither internal, nor external
Why existing solutions
are not enough.
Neither internal teams nor external advisors structurally solve the
problem of continuous, credible and disciplined proprietary sourcing over time.
Internally — three profiles, three structural limits
The Junior / M&A Intern
Has the time — but not the credibility.
- Not senior enough to lead meetings alone
- Lacks outbound expertise to generate serious response rates
- Counterparties don't view them as a credible contact
- Sourcing yields little, discourages quickly
The Senior M&A
Has the expertise — but not the bandwidth.
- Proactive origination is time-consuming and thankless
- CRM follow-up, re-engagement, ongoing qualification: starts but never finishes
- Their time is structurally too valuable for this
- Sourcing starts, stops, restarts — without real continuity
The M&A Director
Has the credibility — but it's the wrong use of their time.
- Can secure meetings but will never do disciplined follow-up
- Too operational for their level and cost
- When they source, it's at the expense of execution and committees
- The pipeline stops as soon as pressure returns
Externally — advisors with structurally misaligned interests
Imposed exclusivity
Every target contacted belongs to them. Systematic tail rights. Your scope is locked from the first email sent.
Push towards closing
Their compensation depends on closing, not on the quality of options created. The incentive to force a deal exists structurally.
High cost disconnected from results
High retainer + mandatory success fee, regardless of dealflow actually generated and its strategic relevance.
Intermediary always visible
Impossible to operate confidentially or under client identity. The target knows a process is underway from the first contact.
"The best opportunities don't close on first contact. They are built over time — with discipline, expertise and relationship memory."
Positioning
What NC Corporate is
(and isn't).
A buy-side origination engine designed by corporate M&A professionals, for corporate M&A teams.
BOUTIQUE M&A BUY-SIDE
NC CORPORATE
INTERNAL TEAM ALONE
ALIGNMENT OF INTERESTS
✕
Compensation indexed on closing — incentive to present sub-optimal deals
✓
Aligned on qualified deal volume — no artificial pipeline
✕
Internal objectives sometimes disconnected from the field
ORIGINATION FOCUS
✕
Secondary buy-side vs lucrative sell-side — not their core business
✓
Exclusive buy-side origination — 100% of time, 100% of energy
✕
Absorbed by execution, committees, integration
EXCLUSIVITY & TAIL RIGHTS
✕
Imposed exclusivity, locked scope, systematic tail rights
✓
No exclusivity. No tail rights. No locked scope. Ever.
N/A
IDENTITY FLEXIBILITY
✕
Always visible as external intermediary — limited confidentiality
✓
NC Corporate advisor or internalized under client identity depending on situation
✕
Internal identity only — variable credibility depending on profile
LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP
✕
Limited relationship after first contact — no systematic memory
✓
Entrepreneur memory, disciplined follow-ups, end-to-end tracking over time
✕
Good intention, no real bandwidth
FINANCIAL MODEL
✕
High retainer + mandatory success fee + tail rights
✓
Retainer + LOI milestone — zero success fee if sourcing only. Model aligned on value created.
✕
High fixed cost, variable and unmeasured results
"The best opportunities don't close on first contact. They are built over time — with discipline, expertise and relationship memory."
For whom
Acquirers who need
an origination engine.
CORPORATE M&A TEAMS
Mid-caps & Corporates
Any company pursuing external growth — whether independent mid-caps, listed or PE-backed, industrial groups or international corporations. These companies seek to build a structured and continuous pipeline of proprietary opportunities without tying up their internal teams on a time-consuming task.
The challenge: having a qualified flow of off-market targets, continuously fed with rigor and credibility.
M&A DIRECTORS
STRATEGY DIRECTORS
CFO
CEO
Build-up Platforms
Consolidation platforms
PE-backed platforms or sector consolidators running buy-and-build strategies at a sustained pace.
NC Corporate offers a model tailored to small-cap build-up platforms, with reduced fixed fees and results-oriented fee structures.
For these profiles, NC Corporate integrates end-to-end transaction execution.
PE-BACKED
3+ ACQUISITIONS/YEAR
REDUCED FEES
RESULTS-ORIENTED
The engine
How it works —
end to end.
Screening
Analyse continue thèses & secteurs
Scoring
Progressive 3-level qualification
Mapping
Key decision-maker identification
Pipeline
Entry into active dealflow
Multi-canal
Email, LinkedIn, network
Outreach
Approche séquencée personnalisée
Suivi
Disciplined follow-ups over time
SCREENING
Continuous thesis & sector analysis
SCORING
Progressive 3-level qualification
MAPPING
Key decision-maker identification
PIPELINE
Entry into active dealflow
MULTI-CANAL
Email, LinkedIn, network
OUTREACH
Personalized sequenced approach
SUIVI
Disciplined follow-ups over time
Qualification methodology
Three scoring levels
1
Out of scope
Target clearly out of scope — eliminated immediately without consuming client bandwidth.
2
Uncertain
Target with interesting but uncertain elements — submitted for client validation before any contact.
3
Relevant
Target clearly in scope — contacted directly through personalized outreach approach.
Dual approach posture
KEY STRATEGY
No M&A boutique can operate under its client's identity. NC Corporate does. Depending on the situation, discussions are conducted via NC Corporate (advisor posture) or directly via the client's domain (internalized M&A).Result: maximum credibility, total confidentiality, optimized response rates.
Advisor posture — NC Corporate domain
Internalized M&A — client domain
Outreach approach
Personnalisation par défaut.
Core principles
- In-house outbound marketing and mass mailing expertise — used sparingly on deep small-cap markets to maximize effectiveness
- Multi-channel approach: Email, LinkedIn, sometimes phone
- Spaced and contextualized follow-ups based on target news and developments
Cultural adaptation
Anglo-Saxon markets are more transactional; in France and continental Europe, executives are more responsive to a progressive, relationship-driven approach. The outreach strategy is systematically adjusted to build trust before any transactional discussion.
Dealflow coverage
Total market coverage.
NC Corporate maintains active relationships with a broad network of advisors informed of our mandates, ensuring no relevant opportunity is missed — whether proprietary or intermediated.
Proprietary Origination
- Direct approach to off-market targets
- Systematic sector screening & investment theses
- Building primary relationships with founders and shareholders
- No auction competition at the initial stage
Pipeline Unifié
NC Corporate
- Systematic deduplication
- Centralized information
- No deal missed
- Full client control
Intermediated Dealflow
- Active coverage of M&A boutiques and investment banks
- Access to sale processes (sell-side mandates)
- Activation only with explicit client approval
- Relevance filter to avoid unnecessary noise
Measurable results
An engine that delivers —
KPIs tracked with full transparency.
Every mandate is managed with rigorous reporting discipline.
From first outreach to signed LOI.
Sourcing & Qualification
Structuration de l'amont
Number of companies screened
VOLUME BRUT
Qualified companies (Scoring)
VOLUME NET
Initial relevance rate
% Quali
Outreach & Activity
Execution discipline
Number of companies contacted
Outreach
Actions completed (Email, LinkedIn)
Touchpoints
Follow-ups completed
Persistence
Outreach Performance
Message effectiveness
Email open rate
Visibility
Overall response rate
Engagement
Positive response rate
Interest
Transactional KPIs
M&A optionality created
Qualified discussions / meetings generated
Pipeline
NDAs signed
Analysis
LOIs signed
Closing
"Our role: creating the proprietary dealflow your teams don't have time to build — and keeping it alive over time."
Commercial structure
Two models,
one single discipline.
An economic model designed to be aligned with acquirers' interests, fostering continuous opportunity sourcing. No exclusivity, no tail rights, no locked scope.
CORPORATE M&A TEAMS
01
Corporate — Buy-side Alignment
For mid-caps, industrial groups and international corporations
- Monthly retainer — engine activation & continuous sourcing
- LOI milestone — creation of a real opportunity
- Optional transaction support (analysis, negotiation, DD coordination, closing)
- Zero success fee if NC Corporate is involved in sourcing only
- Evolving scope — adjustable geographic, sector and strategic perimeter
0 exclusivity
0 tail rights
0 locked scope
0 success fee if sourcing only
Build-up PlatformsS
02
Build-up Platforms
For PE-backed consolidators with sustained acquisition pace
- Reduced monthly retainer — lower fixed fees adapted to high acquisition pace
- LOI milestone, deductible from final success fee
- Success fee per acquisition — end-to-end execution systematically included
- Results-oriented mechanisms — fully aligned on performance
- Personalized outreach by default — mass mailing used sparingly on deep markets
Execution included
Deductible milestone
Full alignment
About
Built by M&A professionals,
for M&A teams.
NC Corporate was born from a simple observation: internal M&A teams are structurally ill-positioned for continuous proprietary sourcing. Absorbed by execution, committees and integration, they have neither the time nor the bandwidth to maintain a proactive approach towards market leaders.
Faced with this, traditional external solutions don't solve the problem — they shift it. M&A boutiques impose exclusivity, tail rights and push towards closing. NC Corporate was designed to change this equation.
Our positioning is that of an agile extension of internal teams — operating with the seniority of an M&A Director, the discipline of a structured process, and the flexibility of an unconstrained mandate.
Geographic coverage
International coverage with a focus on the main M&A market zones.
Americas
Priority zone
United States · Canada · South America
Europe
Priority zone
Coverage across all of Europe — France, Germany, Benelux, UK, Spain, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe
Asia
Targeted zone
Southeast Asia · India · excluding China and Japan (very local approach required)
No exclusivity. No tail rights.
Your scope is never locked. Your relationships belong to you. No target contacted generates automatic tail rights.
Removable by design.
NC Corporate builds the relationship between you and the target. The goal is for this relationship to be direct and lasting. We can be removed from the process at any time.
Zero fee if sourcing only.
If NC Corporate is involved in sourcing only and no transactional opportunity is created, no success fee is owed.
Sector focus
Manufacturing Industriel
Testing, Inspection & Certification
Tech Build-up Platforms
Sector Consolidation
Let's discuss your project
Let's discuss
your project.
Un échange confidentiel, sans engagement, centré sur vos priorités.
Senior-to-senior approach only.
NC Corporate is committed to strict confidentiality. No aggressive solicitation, no jargon. Every discussion is handled with the discretion your strategic projects deserve.