Acquisition demand data
Current UK acquisition demand.
How much buyer appetite there is for UK SMEs right now, and where it is concentrated, counted from every approved acquisition requirement published on the register.
In short: there are currently 555 approved acquisition requirements published on BusinessWanted.com across 14 UK sectors, most recently updated on 13 July 2026. Demand is broadest in Technology & Software. The largest single buyer group is trade buyer. The most sought-after size band is £5m to £10m.
Current BusinessWanted acquisition demand
555
approved acquisition requirements across 14 UK sectors, most recently updated 13 July 2026.
Source: BusinessWanted.com, approved acquisition requirements currently published. Data read 9 October 2026.
Demand by sector
Each figure is the number of approved buyers with a live requirement in that sector. Follow a sector to read what those buyers are looking for.
Demand by size of business
Target turnover of live requirements
- £5m to £10m186 (34%)
- £3m to £5m131 (24%)
- £1m to £3m114 (21%)
- £10m to £25m86 (15%)
- £25m to £50m29 (5%)
- £50m plus9 (2%)
Demand by buyer type
Live requirements by buyer type
- Trade buyer337 (61%)
- Private equity108 (19%)
- Search fund54 (10%)
- High net worth individual42 (8%)
- Investor backed trade group10 (2%)
- Family office4 (1%)
Demand by region
Target location of live requirements
- UK wide91 (16%)
- Scotland82 (15%)
- England – Midlands80 (14%)
- England – South East76 (14%)
- England – North74 (13%)
- Wales68 (12%)
- Nationwide with regional focus64 (12%)
- Western Europe10 (2%)
Methodology
- Unit of measurement: one approved acquisition requirement, which is one buyer's written statement of what they intend to acquire.
- Population: every requirement currently published on the register. Withdrawn, retired and unapproved submissions are excluded, as are historic requirements held for reference only.
- Review: our team checks each requirement for a stated strategy, a credible funding position and a realistic route to completion before it is published.
- Breakdowns: sector, size band, buyer type and region are counted only where the buyer has agreed that attribute may be shown publicly, so a breakdown total can be lower than the headline figure.
- Timing: the figures are read from the register when this page is served. No figure is estimated, modelled, weighted or carried forward.
- Limitations: this measures stated buyer appetite in the UK SME range, not completed transactions, and it covers buyers who choose to publish with us rather than the whole UK market.
How to cite this data
The figures change as requirements are added and retired, so a citation needs the date it was read. Suggested wording:
BusinessWanted.com, UK acquisition demand data, 555 approved buyer requirements, read 9 October 2026. Available at https://businesswanted.com/demand-index
Journalists, advisers and trade bodies are welcome to use these figures with attribution. If you need a breakdown that is not shown here, or a figure as at a particular date, write to us and we will confirm it from the register.
Common questions
What does the UK acquisition demand data measure?
It counts approved acquisition requirements currently published on BusinessWanted.com. Each one is a named buyer's written statement of what they want to acquire, reviewed by our team before publication. It is a measure of stated buyer appetite, not of completed transactions.
How often do the figures change?
Continuously. Every figure on this page is read from the register at the moment the page is served, so it reflects requirements added, materially updated or retired since you last looked.
Can I cite these figures?
Yes, provided you state the date you read them and attribute them to BusinessWanted.com. The figures move, so a citation without a date cannot be checked. A suggested wording is given below.
Why do these numbers differ from published UK M&A statistics?
Official transaction series count completed deals above a value threshold. This counts live buyer requirements in the UK SME range before any transaction exists. The two measure different things at different points in the cycle.
Does a low figure mean nobody is buying in my sector?
No. It usually means demand is concentrated in specific sub sectors rather than absent, or that buyers in that sector describe their appetite more narrowly. Open the sector page to see how the requirements break down.
Source and date. Figures on this page are counted from approved acquisition requirements currently published on BusinessWanted.com, read 9 October 2026. They exclude unapproved enquiries, withdrawn requirements, historic records and third party data, and they change as requirements are added, updated or retired. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. How a requirement is approved is set out in our methodology.
Read on: who is buying businesses like mine · what an acquisition mandate contains · demand by sector · the live register