HOW WE WORK
The commercial questions, answered before the first call.
Most of what a client wants to know before engaging an adviser is commercial: how it is priced, who does the work, what happens in the first month, and what is done with the information they hand over. Those answers are on this page rather than reserved for a meeting.
FEES
Fees are agreed in writing in the engagement letter.
We do not publish standard fees on this website. A fee quoted before the scope is understood is either wrong, or padded to cover everything the work might turn out to include. Neither outcome serves the client. The terms belong in the engagement letter, agreed in writing before any work begins.
What you can expect at the first conversation is a view on whether the mandate is one we can run, and terms proposed against a scope that has been discussed rather than assumed.
SCOPING
The engagement letter sets what each side owns.
Scope disputes on a live deal are expensive and avoidable. The boundary is set in the engagement letter, and it is set specifically enough that neither side has to argue about it in the week before signing.
What defines the scope
The mandate itself: what is being bought, sold, or financed, the size and sector, the sourcing route where one applies, and the phases the engagement covers. When the scope names phases, both sides can tell when each one has been completed.
What CCA owns
The mandate document, the market and target work, the diligence workstreams we run, the process management, and the negotiation. One senior lead owns the file and is accountable for what is delivered at each checkpoint.
What the client owns
The decisions. Which targets advance, which buyers are approached, what price is acceptable, and whether to proceed at all. We recommend and argue our case. The client decides, and we record the decision.
How specialists are brought in
Quality of earnings providers, legal counsel, tax advisers, insurance, and the Technology & AI practice are engaged where the deal requires them, scoped separately, and named before they start. Nothing is added to an invoice that was not agreed in advance.
THE FIRST 30 DAYS
What the first month produces.
The first thirty days produce the information needed to decide how the rest of the engagement runs. At the end of the month both sides have a written position to work from, rather than a general sense of direction.
Mandate definition
What is being pursued, at what size, in which sectors, against what return requirement and which risk constraints. Written down, agreed, and revisited as responses come in from the market.
Market map
The subsector view and the target or buyer universe the mandate implies, with the reasoning attached rather than a list handed over without it.
Operating cadence
A standing call at an agreed frequency, a named point of contact on both sides, and a pipeline document that is updated rather than reconstructed before each meeting.
The first written checkpoint
A document at the end of the phase stating what was found, what was decided, and what happens next. Every phase after this one ends the same way.
THE CRESCENT SOURCING FRAMEWORK
We will publish the buy-side methodology when it is finished.
The buy-side work described across this practice follows a named methodology. It covers how a mandate is written, how a target universe is built, how opportunities are screened against the thesis, and how each advance or stop decision is recorded.
It will be published here as a named and versioned framework once it is complete and cleared. We would rather have nothing on this page than a diagram that describes a method more finished than the one we run.
CONFIDENTIALITY
What we do with what you tell us.
On an owner matter, no buyer is contacted without written instruction. You approve every name on the list before any approach is made, and the company is described under a code name in early outreach.
Information is restricted to the people working the mandate. Data room access is opened by stage rather than all at once, and counterparties sign confidentiality agreements before they receive anything beyond an anonymized description.
We do not disclose that a client is in the market, on either side of a deal. Where a conflict exists between two mandates, we say so before taking the second one rather than managing it quietly.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The questions clients ask before they engage.
- Who does the work?
Bass Zanjani, Managing Director, leads M&A Advisory and owns the file from the first meeting through close. Specialists are brought in where the deal requires them, named in advance and scoped separately. The file is not handed down after the engagement letter is signed.
- Do you publish your fees?
No. The arrangement depends on the mandate, and it is agreed in writing before work starts. A published rate card would either be wrong for most engagements or priced to cover the widest possible scope. The terms belong in the engagement letter rather than in marketing copy.
- What if the mandate is not one you can run?
We will say so on the first call. We would rather decline a mandate than run it badly. A badly run mandate costs the client months, and on an owner matter it signals to the market that the business is being shopped.
- Can we start with a smaller piece of work?
Frequently, yes. Screening a single in-market opportunity is a legitimate engagement on its own, and so is a readiness assessment before an owner commits to a process. Neither obliges either side to the full mandate.
- Is the Technology & AI practice part of the fee?
No. It is a separate practice with its own engagement letter and its own scope. Where a deal needs it, the cost is agreed before the work starts, and no M&A mandate requires it.
- How do you handle a conflict?
We do not act for both sides of the same transaction. Where a new mandate would conflict with a live one, we tell the prospective client before taking the brief, without disclosing who the existing client is.
Start the conversation
Ask the commercial questions on the first call.
Tell us what you are working on and what you need to know before you would engage anyone. We will answer the scope and fee questions in that conversation rather than after a second meeting.
Bass reads every brief. If we are not the right firm for the mandate, we will tell you who might be.