The decisions that define a company are the ones it makes least often.
A company sells, acquires or refinances only a handful of times, and lives with the outcome for years. Sterling advises owner-managers on those decisions: senior-led, independent and deliberately small.
We are small on purpose. In this work, judgement matters more than scale, and reputation is the only capital that compounds.
You deal directly with the adviser running your transaction, from first conversation to completion. No hand-offs, no junior delivery team, no incentive that is not aligned with yours.
The deal is rarely the whole objective. A price that holds to completion, a buyer who will look after the people and the name, a business that keeps trading while the process runs: these are decided by preparation, not at the closing table, so we plan for them from the first conversation.
Aniruddha Roy · Founder
Advice with a name on it.
Aniruddha Roy founded Sterling after a career across corporate finance advisory, private equity and lending, most recently at Associate Director level in a UK M&A boutique, advising owner-managed businesses on sales and acquisitions from first approach to signed agreement.
Before that he worked at Brummer & Partners, a Stockholm-based investment firm, and was Vice President at NDB Capital, an investment bank in South Asia. That record covers private equity investment, acquisitions and disposals, and debt funding, on both sides of the table and across borders, which matters more often than owners expect: the buyer, lender or subsidiary that shapes an outcome is increasingly overseas.
- CFA charterholder
- MBA, Warwick Business School
- LLM in Corporate Finance Law and LLB
- Off duty: the classical guitar. The repertoire is mostly Spanish, Francisco Tárrega above all, and slowly growing.
What most owners want, and where most processes go wrong
The same concerns come up in almost every first conversation. Processes fail for the same few reasons too: run to a template, handed down after the pitch, or priced to close rather than to close well.
“Tell me what it is really worth.”
Most owners carry a number from a rumour, a rival’s sale or a rule of thumb. We give you a range you can defend, and say what would move it, before a buyer does.
“I do not want the whole town to know.”
A leak costs staff, customers and price. Fewer buyers, better chosen; information released in stages; timing that you control.
“I still have a business to run.”
A distracted owner drags the numbers down in the months a buyer watches most closely. We carry the process so you can keep trading through it.
“I want the price to survive to completion.”
Headline offers are cheap. The value is in terms that hold: earn-outs, working capital, warranties. We negotiate those as hard as the number.
“I am not sure I am ready.”
Readiness is a plan, not a feeling. Starting a year or two out, we find the gaps a buyer would find, and say which to fix and which to price in.
“Who will actually do the work?”
The senior adviser you hired leads every mandate from first call to completion, with candour even when it costs us, and your plans kept private throughout.
Advice across the life of a business
From a first thought about selling to an acquisition, a refinancing or a shareholder stepping back: we meet you where you are, and say plainly what the right next step is.
Sell-Side
Full sale mandates: preparation well before market, buyer strategy, a competitive process, negotiation to completion.
More → 02Shareholder Exits & Buybacks
When a shareholder wants out and the route is not simple: valuation, funding and negotiation, handled for the company.
More → 03Debt & Refinancing
Refinancing and new facilities for acquisitions and shareholder exits: benchmarked, stress-tested, negotiated for the borrower.
More → 04Ownership & Capital
The Equity Value Review and standing counsel: what the business is worth, what would move the number, how it is owned and funded.
More → 05Buy-Side
Off-market origination and disciplined approaches for owner-managed acquirers: one mandate at a time.
More →We know how buyers in our sectors think
Our sharpest edge is in industrials and business services: distribution, manufacturing, specialist products and the companies that keep them running. It is a fragmented, well-funded, consolidating market, and the best buyer often sits in an adjacent one, increasingly abroad. Knowing what buyers reward, and what they quietly mark down, is where the premium is won.
Our sectors →What we hold ourselves to
Integrity
Honest advice even when it is uncomfortable. No conflicts, no hidden agendas, and fees set out plainly from the outset.
Curiosity
Questions before answers. We engage with the specifics of your business, not a template.
Excellence
Rigorous analysis, well-drafted documents and senior attention on every engagement, whatever its size.
Old-fashioned about the things that still matter
The tools of this profession change constantly; the judgement behind it does not.
Relationships outlast transactions.
When the approach letter lands or the bank calls, you will turn to whoever is already in the room. We build the relationship between events, so that when your moment comes we are already there and already know the business.
Risk is rarely symmetrical.
The reward from a good process is real; the cost of a bad one is worse, and harder to undo. We weigh the downside first.
Mastery is a habit, not a claim.
The model, the memorandum, the negotiation: each done properly, every time. The detail is where advice quietly becomes advantage.
The best time to start the conversation is before you need to.
Whether a sale, an acquisition or a refinancing is near or years away, an early and confidential conversation is the right first step. No pressure, no obligation.