Founder & Director
With over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, Lee Smith has spent the last 12 years focused on one discipline: acquiring and growing great businesses.
With over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, Lee Smith has spent the last 12 years focused on one discipline: acquiring and growing great businesses. He is one of the UK’s most active independent acquirers in the HVAC, M&E engineering, Renewable Energy and Construction sectors, with 32 completed M&A deals behind him.
His reputation in UK M&A circles is built on something that sets him apart from most buyers: a values-driven approach that puts the seller’s legacy at the centre of every deal. Lee’s preferred structure is a partnership acquisition, where founders retain meaningful equity, stay involved on their own terms, and see their business grow rather than be absorbed.
Verdani Capital is the vehicle through which Lee brings together operational businesses, experienced leadership and millions of pounds deployed across deals, with a singular focus on long-term value creation over short-term returns.
Insights
Not all buyers are created equal. Three questions that separate a buyer who will protect your team, culture and name from one who will strip it for parts.
Read the articleWhy putting integrity first in a deal pays back long after completion: stronger partnerships, a team that stays, and customers who keep calling.
Read the articleThe highest bidder is not always the best fit. How to read a buyer’s business model, succession plan and culture before you sign anything.
Read the articleTiming plays as big a role as price. Four factors that shape whether now is a good moment for an SME owner to sell: the economic cycle, tax relief, available capital and the cost of financing.
Read the articleA plain-English guide to how mergers and acquisitions work: the motives, the preparation, the process from target to completion, and what happens after the deal.
Read the articleWritten in 2020, still instructive. Four macro factors that make a strong market for sellers, and why waiting for a better moment usually costs more than it earns.
Read the articleWhen your identity and your business are intertwined, the wrong buyer can undo decades of work. Three things to check before you accept an offer: the buyer’s motives, their succession plan, and their culture.
Read the articleA broker valuation is a sales document, not an independent opinion. Five ways broker valuations mislead owners, and how to get a number you can actually plan around.
Read the articleValuation is as much art as science, but five fundamentals drive it every time: earnings history, growth prospects, diversification, reputation and the capital allocation track record.
Read the articleNo NDA. No accounts needed. You will speak to Lee or Scott, not an analyst.
