For business owners
Explore a sale without ever putting your business on the market.
Everything an owner needs here, in one place: who is buying, how a private sale works, what buyers examine, and a confidential route to the acquirer behind a requirement. Your business is never listed.
In short: buyers publish what they want to acquire, you read it privately, and you make contact only where the fit is real. No listing, no memorandum, no signal to staff, customers or competitors.
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.
Start with the question you actually have
- I am thinking about selling and want to understand the process.
- I need to find a credible buyer without going to market.
- I want to know whether anyone is buying businesses like mine.
- I would rather you looked for the fit on my behalf.
Those four questions have four pages: selling a business, finding a buyer, who is buying businesses like mine and telling us about your business.
How the register works for an owner
- Browse approved requirements by sector, size, region and buyer type.
- Where one fits, note its reference, for example BW000295.
- Send a short anonymous outline quoting that reference.
- Our team checks the fit and passes the outline to the buyer under confidentiality.
- An introduction follows only where both sides want one. Terms are agreed directly between you and the acquirer.
What is never published
Your name, your trading identity, your financials, your staff, your customers and your location. Your enquiry is not listed, advertised or made searchable. Nothing reaches a buyer without your written authority. Every requirement you read has itself been reviewed before publication, which is set out in our methodology.
When a formal process is the better route
Highly strategic assets, regulated disposals and distressed sales usually belong with a corporate finance house running a competitive process. The register suits the far more common case: a profitable owner managed UK company where a private conversation with the right buyer is worth more than an auction.
Reading before you commit to anything
Our business guides cover preparation, valuation expectations, sale costs and the legal stage in depth, and latest articles cover buyer behaviour as we see it on the register.
Common questions
What is BusinessWanted.com for a business owner?
It is a register of approved acquisition requirements. Buyers publish what they want to acquire. Owners read those requirements privately and respond only where the fit is genuine. Nothing about your business is ever published.
Does using it commit me to selling?
No. Most owners who use the register are years away from a sale and are simply establishing who would want the business and what it would take to interest them. Reading requirements commits you to nothing.
What does it cost an owner?
Nothing. Owners are not charged to read requirements, quote a reference or receive an introduction. The register is funded by the acquirers who publish their requirements.
Who sees my information?
Our team, and then only the specific buyer you choose to respond to, under confidentiality and with your authority. Your business is not listed, indexed or advertised.
Do you value businesses or negotiate on my behalf?
No. We introduce owners to buyers whose published requirement matches their business. Valuation, negotiation and legal work stay with you and your own advisers.
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.
Take the next step
Considering a private sale?
Submit your business confidentially. We review every enquiry and only introduce credible acquirers, discreetly.
Confidential. Manually reviewed. No public listing without your approval.