You’re a US-based corporate or private equity (PE) fund looking to acquire a business based in the UK or Europe. You might want to make a transformational acquisition or a strategic acquisition to expand your product lines or enter new markets. Or maybe you want to acquire a start-up or venture capital-backed business to add to your portfolio. Perhaps it's not about buying a whole business – and instead you just want to acquire and integrate certain assets to realise synergies or gain new talent, customers or intellectual property.

The relative strength of the US dollar and the perceived discount of UK and European targets compared to their US counterparts mean US acquirers are increasingly interested in UK and European companies. Whether you're looking to start an acquisition process soon, or are thinking further ahead, it's always good to be prepared.

In this guide, we cover the key challenges that can arise when making a transatlantic acquisition. We cover common issues that we've seen arise, as well as the differences in approach compared to US acquisitions to bridge the expectation gap and help you successfully prepare for, navigate, and complete a transatlantic deal.

The guide is geared towards the acquisitions of private companies in the UK and Europe, but many of the core principles remain the same in relation to the acquisition of listed companies. Similarly, this guide is of course also applicable to Canadian buyers of UK and European businesses – and many of the trends we see with US buyers, we equally see with the many Canadian clients we advise.