Specialist brokers for the facilities management sector.
Simon Read runs the sale of your FM business himself, with a small team supporting you before and during it. Facilities Management Business Sales is a division of Reads Advice Partners Ltd, working with Reads M&A Advisory.
Who we are, and why facilities management.
Reads M&A Advisory is a business brokerage founded by Simon Read, who brings many years of business sales experience. He has advised on the sale of accountancy practices and businesses across a range of sectors, and has built strong relationships with private equity investors (investment firms that buy companies to grow and sell on), business investors and family offices that are actively seeking acquisition opportunities.
That network is why we have launched a dedicated facilities management service.
Simon leads it. An FM buyer looks at contract length, multi-year frameworks with public sector clients, bundled IFM service models against single-service operators, and the TUPE considerations that come with every FM contract change, when the staff on a contract move to the new provider on their existing terms.
Our starting point is how an FM business is bought: through its contracts, its people and its renewal history.
That shapes how our team helps an owner prepare, and which buyers Simon approaches.
If you are exploring a sale, the decisions on it are made with Simon Read, our Founder & Managing Director. Emily Jeans handles the day-to-day running of your case, and each of the others looks after one part of the work, from the figures to growing the contract book.
Key Facts
- Part of Reads Advice Partners Ltd
- Company No. 12124192
- Registered in England and Wales
- Nationwide coverage
- Facilities management sector specialists
- Free initial consultation
- Confidential process
A direct line to the person who runs your sale.
Simon Read handles every FM sale personally, through to completion. The people around him help with the preparation, but the sale itself stays in his hands.
On the sale itself, you talk to the person who has access to the buyer network and will manage it from start to finish.
Simon understands the vocabulary of FM: TUPE on contract transfer, multi-year framework agreements as a value driver, the difference between IFM and single-service positioning, and how IWFM membership signals business maturity to buyers. That understanding comes from many years in business sales.
This direct, personal approach means nothing is lost in translation.
Your business is positioned accurately, your concerns are heard by the person making decisions, and you always know exactly where you stand in the process.
What you want from the sale comes first.
Every conversation starts with understanding what matters most to you: the price, the protection of your workforce, the continuity of your client contracts, or simply completing with certainty.
Nothing is decided until you are ready.
There is no pressure, no timeline you have not set yourself.
The people behind your sale.
Simon runs every sale personally. Around him, six people each look after one part of the Reads Pre-Sale Programme, from the first plan to completion: see every stage in order.
Simon Read
Founder & Managing Director
Simon founded Accountants For Sale, then Reads M&A Advisory, which he set up for the wider business sales market with facilities management among its focus sectors. He has spent many years selling businesses, bringing together independent buyers, acquisitive trade companies, private equity-backed groups and strategic investors across the UK. Rather than working on volume, he gets to know each owner's objectives, finds the right buyers and negotiates the deal himself. Away from the office, he presents Business Forum on Cotswold Radio.
Runs the sale itself, through to completion and the handover after it.
Nick Hunt
Strategic Growth & Exit Adviser
Nick is a Non-Executive Director, trustee and EMCC-accredited executive coach, and a former FTSE100 financial services executive with more than 15 years across strategy, governance, risk and organisational development. He works with founders, chief executives and leadership teams on decision-making, and on running a business through growth and change. He is also the founder of Cotswold Lakes Brew Co., an award-winning certified B Corporation.
Helps you lift profit and build a business that runs without you, from the big decisions to the management team.
Ian Mills
Non-Executive Director
Ian is an entrepreneur, business adviser and author who founded, built and sold a global professional services firm. He has worked across more than 60 countries, and now mentors C-suite executives and the leaders of mid-sized businesses, helping them turn ambition into lasting performance. He is co-author of three books, the latest being The Leader's Secret Code.
Works alongside Simon when the business being sold is a larger one, or when you want the sale to secure more than the price, such as a good home for your workforce.
Angela Roberts
Office Manager
Angela keeps Reads M&A Advisory running smoothly day to day and makes sure clients get a friendly, responsive service. She has a background in IT and marketing, and founded Cotswold Networking, a network of business groups across the Cotswolds, Bristol and Bath. Organised and approachable, she supports the team and its clients through the buying and selling process.
Makes sure your first enquiry is answered quickly, and keeps the office side of your sale in order.
Ben Davies
Financial Preparation Specialist
Ben is a CIMA-qualified management accountant. He spent ten years at a building society, working his way up from apprentice to accountant, before founding his own practice. His strengths are management accounts, cash flow forecasting and the kind of commercial insight that shows an owner what a set of figures is really saying. When a buyer needs the financial picture explained in plain terms, that job falls to Ben.
Gets your figures ready for a buyer's questions in the final year.
Martin Dugan
Head of Deal Origination
Martin's job is to find the conversation before it becomes a listing. He identifies owners who are weighing up a sale but have not yet gone looking for an adviser, and connects them with buyers already registered with Reads. The groundwork is careful research, targeting and patient direct approaches, made quietly and without pressure. He also runs AA2, a B2B data and outbound business.
Alongside either route, Martin leads Buyer-ready presence, putting the online foundations in order for customers and a future owner. He also leads growth marketing, which puts the same research, careful targeting and patient direct approaches into winning the contracts buyers pay more for.
Emily Jeans
Marketing and Administration Manager
Emily is the person clients stay in touch with once a sale is under way. From the initial agreement to completion she keeps each case moving, chasing the small details so nobody else has to. Calm, organised and quick to reply, she is the name owners selling with Reads come to know well.
Your day-to-day contact from the day you sign with us.
Reads also works with specialist partners: experienced financial planners who help owners with their own finances before and after a sale. Simon can introduce you. See how financial planning around the sale works.
What FM buyers look for.
UK facilities management and property services companies were involved in 181 deals in 2025, up 54% on 2024, and private equity completed half of them. Buyers are active. They look for multi-year contract books, IWFM-credentialled teams, IFM capability, and clean TUPE employment records. They value businesses that have all four.
We present your business to suitable buyers through a structured, confidential process, with no public listing.
Source: Moore Kingston Smith, June 2026
What buyers look for
- Multi-year public sector framework agreements
- IWFM membership and accredited teams
- IFM or multi-service capability
- Clean TUPE records and compliant employment terms
- Recurring revenue with low customer concentration
- National or multi-site delivery capability
Start a conversation.
Tell us about your business and we will be in touch within two working days.
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Start with a free first conversation, in confidence, then choose whether you want the paid written Snapshot: see how the two routes fit together.