M&A Lead - Estate Agency

M\&A Lead

Location: South Wales / Hybrid

Reports to: CEO / Board

About T Samuel Estate Agents

T Samuel Estate Agents is an ambitious, fast\-growing estate agency group with a clear objective: to become the largest and most respected estate agency brand in Wales.

We already have strong local foundations, an established lettings and sales operation, and a leadership team with serious growth ambitions. Organic growth will be important, but it will not be enough on its own.

To become number one, we need to acquire.

We are looking for a commercially sharp, highly driven M\&A Lead to identify, approach, negotiate, and help complete acquisitions of estate agency and lettings businesses across Wales.

This is a growth role. It is for someone who can find opportunities others miss, build relationships with business owners, understand numbers, negotiate hard, and help us scale at pace.

Winners only.

The Role

The M\&A Lead will be responsible for building and managing T Samuel’s acquisition pipeline.

Your job is to identify estate agents, lettings businesses, property management books, and related property service businesses that could be acquired, integrated, or strategically partnered with.

You will work directly with the CEO and senior leadership team to source deals, assess opportunities, speak with owners, manage negotiations, coordinate due diligence, and drive transactions towards completion.

This is not a passive corporate development role. This is a frontline deal\-making position.

Your focus is simple: find opportunities, build relationships, negotiate deals, close acquisitions.

Key Responsibilities

*Deal Origination*

You will proactively generate acquisition opportunities through:

· Mapping estate agency and lettings businesses across Wales

· Identifying independent agents, retiring owners, underperforming competitors, and businesses with strong lettings books

· Approaching owners directly and confidentially

· Building relationships with accountants, solicitors, commercial brokers, lenders, landlords, developers, and local business contacts

· Tracking competitor performance, market share, branch coverage, and owner motivations

· Creating a live acquisition pipeline by geography, size, revenue, profitability, lettings book, and strategic fit

· Finding off\-market opportunities before they come to the open market

You must be comfortable picking up the phone, creating conversations, and opening doors with business owners.

Relationship Building

Many acquisition opportunities will not be immediate. Your role will be to build trust with owners over time.

You will be expected to:

· Speak confidently with founders, directors, shareholders, and owner\-managers

· Understand their motivations, pressures, and exit objectives

· Maintain disciplined follow\-up with potential sellers

· Position T Samuel as a credible, respectful, well\-funded acquirer

· Build a reputation as someone who does what they say

· Create warm relationships long before a formal deal process begins

The best deals are often won before competitors know they exist.

Commercial Assessment

You will help assess potential acquisition targets, including:

· Size and quality of lettings book

· Sales pipeline and historic sales performance

· Revenue, profitability, recurring income, and cost base

· Staff structure and retention risk

· Branch locations and local market share

· Brand reputation and customer reviews

· Systems, processes, compliance standards, and operational maturity

· Opportunities for cross\-selling and margin improvement

· Integration risks and synergy potential

You do not need to be an accountant, but you must be commercially literate and comfortable with numbers.

Deal Negotiation

You will support and lead negotiations on:

· Purchase price

· Deal structure

· Earn\-outs

· Deferred consideration

· Asset purchases versus share purchases

· Retention of key staff

· Restrictive covenants

· Handover periods

· Integration support from sellers

· Confidentiality and exclusivity

You must be able to negotiate professionally, firmly, and commercially.

The objective is not simply to buy businesses. The objective is to buy well.

Due Diligence and Execution

You will coordinate with internal and external advisers to help progress transactions through to completion.

This may include:

· Gathering financial and operational information

· Reviewing management accounts, rent rolls, sales pipelines, staff lists, supplier contracts, and compliance records

· Coordinating with legal, finance, tax, and operational advisers

· Managing information requests and seller communications

· Identifying red flags early

· Preparing acquisition summaries for the CEO and Board

· Supporting heads of terms, exclusivity letters, due diligence, transaction documents, and completion planning

You will be expected to drive momentum and keep deals moving.

Integration Support

A deal is only successful if it integrates properly.

You will support the post\-completion transition by:

· Preparing handover plans with the operations team

· Identifying key staff, key landlords, and key vendors

· Supporting client communication planning

· Helping retain acquired income

· Tracking early post\-completion performance

· Ensuring promises made during the deal process are understood internally

· Feeding lessons back into future acquisition strategy

Your job does not end when the deal is signed.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for someone with:

· Strong commercial judgment

· Proven experience in M\&A, corporate finance, business development, estate agency growth, commercial negotiation, or owner\-managed business sales

· Confidence speaking with business owners and senior decision\-makers

· Ability to self\-generate opportunities

· Strong negotiation skills

· High energy and resilience

· Excellent communication and relationship\-building ability

· Strong financial and commercial literacy

· Ability to manage multiple opportunities at once

· Attention to detail and disciplined follow\-up

· A serious work ethic

· Hunger to help build something significant

Estate agency, lettings, corporate finance, legal, accountancy, recruitment, business brokerage, or private equity experience would be highly relevant.

The Type of Person Who Will Succeed

You will succeed in this role if you are:

· A dealmaker

· A relationship builder

· Commercially sharp

· Confident speaking to founders and owners

· Comfortable with rejection

· Persistent without being pushy

· Highly organised

· Good with numbers

· Able to spot opportunity and risk

· Relentless with follow\-up

· Discreet and trustworthy

· Motivated by growth, deals, and winning

· Excited by the challenge of building the largest estate agency brand in Wales

We want someone who thinks like an owner, not an employee.

Performance Expectations

This role will be measured by clear commercial outcomes, including:

· Number of acquisition targets identified

· Number of owner conversations generated

· Number of qualified acquisition opportunities created

· Number of heads of terms issued

· Number of deals progressed to due diligence

· Number of acquisitions completed

· Quality and strategic fit of acquired businesses

· Purchase price discipline

· Recurring revenue acquired

· Retention of acquired landlords, vendors, clients, and key staff

· Successful integration outcomes

· Contribution to overall group growth

Activity matters. Relationships matter. Completed deals matter most.

What We Offer

· The opportunity to play a central role in building Wales’ leading estate agency group

· Direct access to the CEO and senior leadership team

· A clear acquisition\-led growth strategy

· Support from finance, legal, operations, and external advisers

· The ability to shape our M\&A pipeline and acquisition playbook

· Significant responsibility from day one

· Genuine career progression as the group scales

· Competitive salary and performance\-related bonus structure

Our Culture

T Samuel Estate Agents is building a culture based on:

· Growth

· Pace

· Commercial discipline

· High standards

· Accountability

· Confidentiality

· Professionalism

· Intelligent risk\-taking

· Winning

We are proud of our local roots, but our ambition is national within Wales. We want to build a dominant estate agency platform across sales, lettings, property management, and related services.

Summary

This is not a role for someone who wants to wait for deals to land on their desk.

This is a role for someone who can create opportunities, speak to owners, build trust, negotiate intelligently, and help close acquisitions.

Your job is to help us buy the right businesses at the right price and integrate them successfully.

If you are commercially hungry, discreet, resilient, and excited by the challenge of building the largest estate agency brand in Wales, we want to hear from you.

Pay: £26,000\.00\-£36,000\.00 per year

Benefits:

• Referral programme

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