An M&A advisor is the person who runs the sale of a company on the owner's behalf. They prepare the business for buyers, approach those buyers directly, run the offers to a timetable and negotiate through to closing. What they are not is a lawyer, an accountant or a valuer, and confusing the roles costs money.
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The job in practice
Normalising the earnings and evidencing the add backs, writing the information document, building a buyer list and approaching it in a controlled order, holding several buyers to one deadline so offers arrive together, then keeping the chosen buyer to their terms through diligence. Competition is the product; the rest is the work that produces it.
What they are not
They do not draft the purchase agreement, that is your lawyer. They do not produce a defensible valuation for tax or a dispute, that is a valuation specialist. They do not give tax advice on the structure, that is your accountant. An advisor who offers to do all three is offering something no single person is qualified to give.
When you need one
When several credible buyers exist and organizing competition among them is worth paying for. If only one plausible buyer exists, an advisor cannot manufacture the others, and the money is better spent testing that buyer's offer with a lawyer and an accountant.
Other questions people ask
Is an M&A advisor licensed?
The title itself is not licensed. Where a sale involves securities, federal rules on broker registration can apply, and a narrow exemption exists for M&A brokers working on privately held companies. Ask any firm how it is structured.
What does one cost?
A retainer plus a declining success fee with a minimum. Few publish, so ask three in writing and compare the minimum and the tail rather than the headline rate.
Broker or advisor?
Deal size and method. Brokers list and wait; advisors approach buyers and run a timetable. The titles are unregulated, so ask what they will actually do.