Sell-side and buy-side M&A for education and training worldwide, and for specialist advisory firms in the United Kingdom: tax, accounting, legal, consulting, tech-enabled. Built on engines that read every filed account and public register. Two principals in every room, from first conversation to completion.
Education and training has never been stronger, or more fragmented. Thousands of founder-run providers face succession risk, rising quality demands, and consolidating buyers.
Private equity platforms, strategics, universities and awarding bodies are all acquiring at once. Owners with a genuinely good business have real choices, provided they prepare for them. Acquirers with a clear thesis can build platforms of lasting value. Thomsett Lockey exists for both.
Read our insightsSell-side mandates for owners preparing to exit. Buy-side mandates for groups building by acquisition.
Verified education and training transactions tracked across 35 countries, from 283 distinct acquirers.
No junior team, no handover. The people you meet are the people who negotiate.
| Date | Target | Acquirer | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | CIPHER MEDICAL CONSULTANCY LIMITED | Health Transportation Group Uk Limited | Vocational training |
| Aug 2026 | EAS MECHANICAL LIMITED | Realise Training | Vocational training |
| Aug 2026 | Oakwood Specialist Colleges Limited | Phoenix Learning & Care Group Limited | Vocational training |
| Jul 2026 | E.Quality Training | Leep Holdings Limited | Vocational training |
| Jun 2026 | Nova Centric Limited | Nottingham Trent University | Vocational training |
| Jun 2026 | Mainstream Training Limited | Logikal Group Limited and Navajam Group Limited | Vocational training |
The six most recent entries on the public layer of the map, which runs to 363 verified transactions. We map M&A across the global education and training market continuously; this is intelligence, not a client list. The live map, including who is in market today, is maintained privately. The same approach now reads accounts and public registers for advisory firms: see how we build.
We position the business, run a discreet and controlled process, and bring the right acquirer to the table on terms worth taking. You commit very little to start, and only move forward when there is something genuinely worth moving forward for. No buyer is approached without your sign-off.
Start a conversationWe sharpen the acquisition thesis, originate targets quietly, including those not on the market, and steer the deal to completion at the right price. Diligence is managed by a principal, and the structure reflects what it finds.
For an advisory firm growing by acquisition, we run the programme end to end: the map of the market, the approaches to owners, the assessment of each target, and the deal through to completion. A monthly fee during the search and a success fee on completion.
Start a conversationThe deal map taught us to read public records at scale. We now apply the same reading to filed accounts and public registers for one purpose: to find the clients a firm should have and the targets an acquirer should buy. Each engine is built for one firm, in one market, and is not built again for a competitor of that firm while we work together.
A specialist tax adviser asked that one question. We read every set of accounts filed at Companies House against the shape of a company that needs the firm's service, and return a ranked list each month with the reason beside each name. The same reading gives an acquirer its map of the market.
Specialist advisory firms: tax, accounting, legal, consulting, and the tech-enabled advisers alongside them. Usually founder-led, £1m to £50m of revenue, either growing by referral and ready to grow by data, or growing by acquisition and in need of a map.
Every build starts with a sample on the firm's own market, so the list is judged before anything is committed. Each build is scoped and priced for the firm.
Start a conversationTwenty years advising leaders across education and training, and one of the sector's most connected networks of operators, investors and acquirers. Alex has built, run and sold businesses himself, and brings an operator's judgement to positioning, buyer strategy and negotiation. Counsel from someone who has sat on the owner's side of the table.
LinkedInA chartered accountant with deep corporate finance and due diligence experience across a career of transactions. Joe reads the accounts before the pitch, defends value through diligence, and structures terms that stand up to scrutiny. Steady, exacting counsel from first conversation to completion.
LinkedInA read of 363 verified deals across 24 months: where the money is going, who is buying, and what it means for owners.
ReadThe mindset of a sale, what to expect from the process, and a scorecard to grade yourself honestly before you speak to anyone.
ReadThe Thomsett Lockey read on education and training M&A. No noise.
The first conversation is confidential, costs nothing, and commits you to nothing. We typically work where enterprise value is £2m or more.