Serial business buyer Peter Lidgitt explains how he acquired UK businesses through lockdown, used distressed deal structures, negotiated deferred payments, and kept deal flow moving from France.
Listen to the EpisodeEpisode 173 | Runtime: 33:52 | Audio Episode
Hear Peter Lidgitt discuss pandemic acquisitions, distressed business buying, broker valuation problems, deferred consideration, and practical deal flow discipline.
Episode
173
Runtime
33:52
Topic
Distressed business acquisitions
Format
Founder interview
Three acquisition lessons from Peter Lidgitt on buying, funding, and scaling through uncertain markets.
Peter explains how businesses in administration or liquidation can be acquired at lower entry prices, provided the buyer can move quickly, protect customers, and stabilise the workforce.
The episode shows how deferred consideration, payment holidays, and staged payments can be negotiated even with liquidators when the buyer has credibility and the seller needs certainty.
Peter argues that buyers should define a sector, build networks, speak to sellers, and keep turning over pebbles until the right acquisition appears.
In this episode, Jonathan Jay catches up with serial business buyer Peter Lidgitt, who had previously bought nine UK businesses in 2020 while living in France during lockdown. Peter shares what happened next, including a near miss on a cleaning business carrying millions in debt and the lessons he took from watching another buyer struggle with that deal through the pandemic.
The conversation moves into distressed acquisitions, including buying businesses out of administration, taking on work in progress, stabilising staff, and using deferred payments to reduce upfront cash pressure. Peter explains how he thinks about sector knowledge, infrastructure, management teams, bank accounts, invoice discounting, and the practical barriers that can delay an otherwise fast acquisition.
Jonathan and Peter also discuss broker led valuations, unrealistic seller expectations, and why direct conversations with owners can produce more rational deal terms. The episode closes with Peter's advice for buyers: choose a sector you understand, build serious deal flow, complete thorough due diligence, prepare banking early, and keep learning because every acquisition creates a new obstacle.
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