Off-market introductions to vetted, qualified acquirers. No listings, no broadcast, no leak surface. Rodolfo personally manages every mandate from instruction to FCA handover.
A regulated payment institution is priced on substance: flows, banking, safeguarding, regulatory file. The wrong process leaves value on the table; the wrong acquirer fails change-of-control. Vertice closes both gaps.
Average across brokered mandates. Tension created by competing vetted acquirers, valuation framework that prices the regulatory layer correctly, and disciplined negotiation. The number is observed, not advertised.
A live book of acquirers built since 2007: financial investors, fintech operators, payment groups. Vetted on source of funds, regulatory standing, and intent before a single name is shared.
150+ FCA applications managed. Change-of-control sequencing, banking and processor consents, post-completion handover. The deal is not done until the regulator approves.
No listings. No broadcast. No leak surface. Every mandate is worked in private.
Your firm is never advertised, listed, or marketed publicly. Acquirers receive named introductions only after mutual qualification.
Acquirers are checked on source of funds, regulatory standing and genuine intent before the long-form memorandum is shared.
Rodolfo is your only counterpart at Vertice. No handoffs, no associate teams, no shared CRM trail.
Every sell-side mandate runs through the same five steps. Each step has a defined output. Rodolfo personally manages all five for every vendor.
Objectives, business profile, regulatory position, timeline. Confidential, no obligation.
Business and licence valuation. Positioning. Data-room readiness. Regulatory pre-checks.
Vetted acquirers introduced under NDA. Tension created; wrong counterparts excluded; time saved.
Negotiation, structuring, FCA change-of-control preparation. Legal and compliance coordination.
Close. Handover. Post-completion integration. The deal is done when the transition is done.
Six inputs drive the valuation framework. Each one is pulled out of the data room, normalised, and benchmarked against the live UK comparable set. The output is a defensible number, not a wishful one.
Monthly transaction volume, take rate, contribution margin, corridor mix and concentration. Stable, growing flows lift the number; concentrated, fragile flows compress it.
Number of UK banks, account types (operating, safeguarding), recency, processor relationships. Banking is the bottleneck post-completion. Deep banking is rare and priced accordingly.
Reconciliations, segregation, customer-funds protection, latest audit findings. A clean safeguarding posture clears diligence; a messy one stalls it.
FCA correspondence, breaches, supervisory letters, attestations. Acquirers price what they will inherit, including risk; clean files clear faster and at higher multiples.
Defensible positions, processor lock-ins, key customer relationships. Genuine exclusivity is priced in; commodity flows are not.
Vendor handover length, key-person retention, post-completion regulatory and bank continuity. A clean handover earns a premium, not a discount.
"As a buyer, I was overwhelmed by the complexity of fintech deals. Rodolfo made it easy. His knowledge, support and professionalism helped me close confidently and quickly."
"With Rodolfo's market insights and experience, I secured a sale that matched my goals exactly."
"Rodolfo connected me with buyers who valued my company properly. His negotiation skills and attention to detail resulted in a smooth, profitable sale."
"From start to finish, Rodolfo was a trusted advisor. His network and expertise made all the difference in finding the right opportunity."
"Rodolfo stands out for his professionalism and commitment. He advocates for his clients, ensuring the best possible outcome on either side of the deal."
"I've worked with other brokers before. None compare to Rodolfo. His experience, honesty and results-driven approach exceeded my expectations."
The questions that come up most often on first calls with founders preparing to exit. For anything not covered here, write to Rodolfo directly.
On well-prepared mandates, six to twelve weeks from instruction to completion. The bottleneck is rarely buyer interest; it is data-room readiness, banking change-of-control, and FCA notification timing.
Faster is possible on clean files. Slower happens when the firm has not been kept transaction-ready.
Inputs include flows and margin, banking quality and number of accounts, safeguarding cleanliness, corridor exclusivity, regulatory file condition, and the vendor's commitment to a defined transition. Each input is pulled from your data room, normalised, and benchmarked against the live UK comparable set.
The licence alone does not set the price. The operating substance does.
Yes. No vendor is disclosed before mutual qualification. Acquirers are vetted on source of funds, regulatory standing and genuine intent before any long-form memorandum is shared. We do not list, we do not broadcast, we do not run a "for-sale" surface.
Discretion is the condition on which vendors instruct us in the first place.
FCA permission, MLRO and compliance team, banking and processor relationships, customer book and operating history all transfer with the shares, subject to the usual change-of-control consents. Personal goodwill, if any, stays with the founder unless explicitly bundled into the deal.
That is negotiated. Most vendors prefer a clean exit with a defined handover period of three to six months. Some stay on as consultants to the acquirer for continuity with regulators and banks. We help you structure it before signing rather than improvising at completion.
Many first calls start there. We will walk through your options, give a realistic view of the market, and tell you if now is the right window or not. There is no pressure to instruct.
Short, practical writing on UK Payment Institution M&A — pricing, change of control, the bank-shaped path between offer and completion. Written by Rodolfo. We publish when there is something to say.
Across brokered mandates we see a 10–25% premium over informal asks. Here is how it builds: tension between vetted acquirers, a valuation framework that prices regulatory substance, disciplined negotiation. Observed, not advertised.
Sixty business days is the headline. The real path runs banking consents, MLRO continuity and processor handovers in parallel. Plan backwards from the completion date you actually want.
UK banks are the second regulator on every Payment Institution sale. They underwrite the buyer themselves before signing. What they actually look at, and how to clear it before introducing names.
Every first call is ten minutes, discreet, without obligation. We will not pitch. We will tell you whether your firm is transaction-ready, what the realistic price range looks like, and what to do next.