Criteria
Zenith focuses on established UK businesses where disciplined ownership, operating judgement and careful succession planning can support the next phase of growth. The criteria below are indicative rather than exhaustive, but they reflect the kinds of opportunity we are most interested in.
Core criteria
Businesses with strong fundamentals and a reputable market position.
Geography
UK headquartered.
Size
Typically £10m to £80m revenue and £2m to £8m EBITDA, with flexibility where fit is strong.
Sectors
B2B services, industrial tech, healthcare services, compliance-led services and other resilient lower mid-market sectors.
Situations
Founder succession, ownership transition, or businesses ready for more structured growth.
Areas of interest
Within our broader sector focus, we are particularly interested in niches where specialist capability, regulation, service quality or operational complexity create durable value.
- Technical services
- Specialist outsourced services
- Compliance-led services
- Industrial tech
- Healthcare-related services
- Hardware-enabled service businesses
- Service businesses with a software or data layer
- Fragmented niches with platform potential
- Niche leaders with pricing power
- Quality businesses with embedded customer relationships
Situations we like
We are particularly interested in founder succession situations, ownership transitions, professionalisation opportunities and businesses with scope to compound under structured ownership.
Founder succession
Businesses where the owner wants a credible successor who will respect what has been built.
Ownership transition
Situations where shareholders want liquidity, continuity and a thoughtful path forward.
Professionalisation opportunity
Businesses that are already strong, but could benefit from better systems, reporting, management structure or growth discipline.
Platform for sustained growth
Businesses that can grow organically and, where appropriate, through carefully selected acquisitions.
Selective international expansion potential
Relevant where the proposition, customer base or operating model can travel without losing quality.
Business characteristics
Across sectors, we look for a consistent set of business-quality indicators.
01
Established and profitable
A proven model and a strong base to build from.
02
Strong service proposition
A business that is genuinely good at what it does and matters to its customers.
03
Repeat or recurring revenue
Durable demand, customer stickiness and visibility.
04
Hard to run well
Operational complexity, specialist know-how or service intensity that creates real barriers to replication.
05
Embedded customer relationships
Long-standing, trusted relationships that point to underlying quality.
These criteria are indicative rather than exhaustive. Zenith remains open to exceptional businesses that sit naturally within its broader focus.