Perspectives

The Nigerian Mid-Market M&A Review

The Review records transaction activity among Nigerian businesses with enterprise values between ₦300 million and ₦20 billion — a segment for which no consolidated data currently exists. It covers transaction volumes and aggregate value by sector, the origin and category of acquirers, the structures used and how they have shifted, observed multiple ranges where reliable data is available, median time from launch to completion, and the causes of processes that did not complete.

Our methodology, our sources, and the limitations of our sample are set out in full in each edition. We publish transactions we did not advise on alongside those we did, and we identify which is which.

Contents of each edition

Transaction volume and aggregate value, by sector and by half-year, with prior-period comparison.
Acquirer analysis: domestic strategic, regional, international, financial sponsor, development finance.
Structures observed, and commentary on shifts — including the share-versus-asset question following the Nigeria Tax Act 2025.
Valuation observations, with explicit confidence limits on the sample.
Process data: median time to completion, and completion rate against processes launched.
Causes of failure.
Methodology and limitations, stated without minimising.

Semi-annual, published in February and August, without charge and without registration. Freely citable.

Process notes

Two to four each quarter. The titles below are forthcoming.

Share sale or asset sale: how the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 changed the structuring calculus for a Nigerian mid-market disposal.
Merger notification under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018: what the thresholds mean for a transaction of ₦2 billion.
Management accounts that survive diligence: the twelve adjustments a buyer will make, and how to make them first.
Escrow in Nigerian transactions: what arrangements are actually enforceable and what a seller gives up by agreeing to one.
Employment and transfer: what happens to staff, and what a seller can and cannot promise them.
Conditions precedent: how transactions die between signing and completion, and how the risk is allocated.

Owner's notes

The titles below are forthcoming.

What an information memorandum is, and what it should not contain.
Why exclusivity protects the seller rather than the adviser.
What normalised earnings means, and what it will do to your price.
How long a sale actually takes, month by month.
What to do when a buyer approaches you directly.
What happens to the money: consideration structures, deferred payment, and what an earn-out really means.