Professional & local services businesses for sale
Accounting practices, law firms, agencies, gestorías, insurance brokerages and B2B services across Spain, Italy and Japan — recurring revenue, sticky clients, prime succession candidates.
Market context
Professional services consolidation is the most active SMB roll-up theme of the decade. Accounting practices, insurance brokerages and IT services trade at premium multiples to platforms with synergy. Owner-operators above 60 face the choice of exiting now or competing with funded consolidators.
Typical opportunities
Accountancy firms, asesorías, agencies, brokerages, B2B service providers. High recurring revenue, low capex, strong cash conversion.
Who acquires here
Service consolidators, search funds, operators with services background.
Hot regions for professional & local services deals
Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao; provincial gestorías across all 50 provinces.
Milan, Rome, Turin, Naples for B2B services; commercialista practices nationwide.
Tokyo and Osaka for B2B; regional cities for tax-accountant (zeirishi) practices.
What these businesses typically sell for
Insurance brokerages trade at higher multiples (6–9× EBITDA) due to commission tail.
From shortlist to closing
- 01Source & shortlist
Filter live deals by country, ticket size and operator profile. We surface the public listing plus a structured memo with the seller's public footprint, registry filings and press history.
- 02Initial outreach (NDA + LOI)
Most listings here are broker-mediated. After NDA, expect a teaser, then a CIM with audited accounts. A non-binding LOI follows once you confirm fit on price, financing and transition.
- 03Due diligence
Financial, tax, legal, commercial and operational DD over 6–10 weeks. For succession deals, retention of the founder for 6–24 months post-close is standard and often a deal-breaker if missing.
- 04SPA & closing
Local notary in ES/IT, judicial scrivener in JP. Expect earn-outs or vendor financing on 30–50% of succession deals where the seller wants tax deferral or a clean transition.
What to verify before you sign
If 50%+ of revenue follows the founder personally, structure earn-outs over 3–5 years.
Accounting, legal and brokerage licences are personal — share deals preserve, asset deals require re-licensing.
Many SMB practices run legacy systems; budget €50–250k for modernisation in year 1.
Buying a professional & local services business
- How are these services businesses sourced?
- We aggregate listings from official SMB marketplaces in Spain (Bizalia, Negocius, Idealista), Italy (Cherry Acquisition, Bakeca Aziende) and Japan (Tranbi, Batonz, Smergers). Every result links back to the original public listing — we don't re-list, we surface.
- Are asking price and revenue available for every listing?
- When the source publishes them, yes — we extract asking price, revenue and EBITDA into the card. Many succession deals are listed without financials by design; for those we generate an investor memo on demand using the public footprint.
- Can I get alerted when new services deals appear?
- Yes. Members get weekly off-market alerts filtered to this category and country. The cache refreshes weekly across all sources.
- Do I need to be in Spain, Italy or Japan to acquire one of these businesses?
- No. Cross-border SMB acquisitions are well-established across all three countries. Spain and Italy welcome EU and non-EU buyers with no restrictions on share purchases. Japan allows 100% foreign ownership of SMBs; the practical bottleneck is local advisors and language, both of which we can introduce members to.
- What's the typical timeline from finding a services deal to closing?
- Three to nine months is normal for an off-market succession deal. Listings on official marketplaces tend to move faster (60–120 days) because the seller has already engaged a broker and prepared a teaser. Distressed and court-driven sales follow a fixed calendar set by the auction or insolvency procedure.