Built around the owner — not the deal.
Sterling exists because the most important transaction of an owner’s life too often gets the least personal attention. We set out to change that.
A different kind of adviser
For most owner-managers, selling — or buying — a business happens once. It is the financial event that turns years of risk and effort into security, legacy and the freedom to choose what comes next. It deserves to be handled by someone senior, someone who listens, and someone whose interests are genuinely aligned with yours.
Yet too often that is not what owners get. They are won over by a senior pitch, then handed to a junior team. They are pushed toward a process when they needed honest counsel. They are treated as one file among many.
Sterling was founded on a simple conviction: the person you hire should be the person who does the work. We are deliberately small so that every client gets senior judgement, straight answers and complete discretion — from the first quiet conversation to the day the deal completes.
We are a boutique by design, not by limitation. The lean model is the point. It means fewer mandates, deeper attention, and advice shaped entirely around what is right for you — not what is convenient for us.
Three values, on every mandate
They are easy to write and hard to live. We hold ourselves to them on the small things as much as the large.
Integrity
We give honest advice, even when it is uncomfortable. No conflicts, no hidden agendas. Fee structures are transparent from the very first conversation.
Curiosity
We ask questions before we reach for answers. Every business is different, so we engage with the specifics of yours — never a template.
Excellence
We do the work properly. Rigorous analysis, well-drafted documentation and senior attention on every mandate, regardless of deal size.
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Aniruddha Roy, CFA
Aniruddha founded Sterling to practise M&A the way he believes it should be done: senior-led, honest and genuinely aligned with the owner. He works hands-on across sell-side and buy-side mandates — from shaping the equity story and information memorandum, to running competitive buyer processes, to negotiating heads of terms and marking up the SPA.
His career spans M&A advisory, private-equity investment and debt and equity finance. Most recently he was an Associate Director at Initium Corporate Finance (formerly BCMS), one of the UK’s established advisers to owner-managed businesses. Earlier, he invested and advised with Stockholm-based investment firm Brummer & Partners and held a Vice President role in investment banking — experience that means he understands a deal from the principal’s side of the table, not just the adviser’s.
He is a CFA® charterholder with an MBA from Warwick Business School and an academic background in corporate finance law — a combination that brings analytical rigour, commercial judgement and an instinct for where the risk really sits in a transaction.
Away from the desk, Aniruddha tries his hand at the classical guitar — a quiet reminder that the most rewarding things reward patience, practice and a long view. The same, he would say, is true of building and selling a business.
Arrange a conversation →A clear path, calmly run
Every mandate is different, but the way we look after you is consistent. No surprises, no jargon, no loss of control.
Listen
We start by understanding you, your business and what a good outcome actually looks like — financially and personally — before we recommend anything.
Prepare
We get the numbers, the narrative and the documentation right, and address the issues a buyer would otherwise use against you.
Execute
We run a structured, competitive process — managing buyers, tension and timelines so you keep both leverage and control.
Complete
We negotiate hard on the terms that matter and guide you through heads of terms, due diligence and SPA to a clean completion.
Every good outcome begins with one honest conversation.
Whether you are ready to act or simply thinking ahead, we would be glad to talk — in complete confidence, with no obligation.