BUY-SIDE M&A · POLAND & CENTRAL EUROPE
From acquisition criteria to a signed deal in Poland
For corporate development teams, private equity platforms and strategic acquirers buying technology and tech-underpinned businesses in Poland and CEE. Bring us your thesis; we turn it into a screen, originate off-market, and execute to close with one accountable partner.
Before you brief anyone on Poland
- How many Polish targets actually fit your criteria?That number, not a teaser inbox, is what tells you whether the thesis holds.
- Where does the longlist come from: primary registry filings, or a list three other buyers have already seen?
- Who makes the first approach to a founder-owned target, and in whose name?Discretion is the reason a founder takes the first call at all.
- What happens to your timetable when diligence has to run in Polish?
BUY-SIDE IN 40 SECONDS
From criteria to closing, with a Polish partner
Transcript
- Find acquisition targets in Poland. Start with a defined scope: your thesis, sector and size band on one page.
- Market mapping: Poland files financials to the KRS registry. We turn the filings into a source-linked longlist.
- Screening: Polish filings, read locally. Team on B2B contracts means headcount is a floor; founder pay is normalised; capitalised development is checked.
- Off-market outreach: the best targets never run an auction. Discreet outreach in Polish. NDA before data, always.
- Diligence to closing: one accountable partner to completion. Workpapers in English, execution in Polish. Notary, tax and FDI planned from day one.
- What a Polish advisor adds: a registry-verified universe instead of only those who answer an English email; a discreet call in Polish instead of a cold inbound; a screened set to compare against instead of one target; deal mechanics planned from day one instead of found late. Cross-border deals fail on local mechanics more often than on price.
- Send your acquisition criteria: dealteam@visioneastadvisory.com. We are happy to sign an NDA before the first meeting.
THE PATH
Five stages, from a thesis to a close
A buy-side mandate is only as good as the brief it starts from. We make the criteria explicit, then run every stage against them.
Define the mandate and criteria
We turn an acquisition thesis into a written screen: sector, revenue and EBITDA band, geography, ownership profile and the must-haves versus nice-to-haves. A sharp brief is what separates real origination from an inbound pile.
You get: a one-page mandate the whole process is measured against.
Proprietary, registry-verified origination
We build the longlist from primary KRS registry filings and our own ICT database, not a recycled broker list. Then we approach owners off-market and discreetly, so you see founder-owned targets that never reach a public auction.
You get: a verified longlist with an off-market outreach track, not a teaser inbox.
Screen and prioritise against the brief
Each target is scored against the mandate: strategic fit, owner readiness to transact, financial shape and the deal-breakers surfaced early. We kill the wrong fits before they cost you diligence time.
You get: a ranked shortlist with the reasons, and the passes documented.
Diligence and valuation, defended locally
We coordinate financial, tax and technical due diligence with a local bench that produces English workpapers, and we separate financial evidence, valuation assumptions and buyer-specific deal rationale. The VEA Index adds a disclosed model scenario on registry financials, not an observed price benchmark.
You get: a valuation you can take to an investment committee, with the evidence and the assumptions kept apart.
Execute to a clean close
We run the negotiation, the SPA and the closing mechanics through to signing, with one accountable partner on the deal from first outreach to completion. No handoff to a junior team once the mandate is signed.
You get: one partner accountable end to end, and a deal kept on timetable.
WHY VEA
What a Poland buy-side partner should actually give you
Registry transparency, used properly
Poland files financials to the KRS registry. We turn that into a verified target universe instead of guesswork, so your longlist rests on primary data.
Off-market access to founder-owned assets
The best Polish technology targets are founder-owned and never run a broad auction. A discreet, relationship-led approach is how they change hands.
One accountable partner, local execution
A single partner owns your mandate end to end, coordinating M&A legal, tax, financial and technical diligence locally, with English workpapers and Polish execution.
Model context, not a seller number
We show the company inputs and valuation assumptions separately. The VEA Index supplies model-based context; comparable transactions and buyer-specific economics need their own evidence.
FINANCIAL DATA AND MODEL CONTEXT
Separate the evidence from the model assumptions
The VEA Index (H1 2026) puts the median implied multiple for a profitable Polish IT company at 4.8x EV/EBIT for revenues of 10-50M EUR (n=449, from 2024 registry filings). It is a VEA model output using EBIT as an EBITDA proxy, with an IT-services profile for the entire selected sample. It does not show prices paid by acquirers and is not calibrated on transactions we have advised on.
VEA model bands, registry distributions and method: Polish IT valuation multiples and the VEA Index. Run your own scenario on VEA model assumptions in the valuation tool.
SELECTED TRANSACTION
A cross-border process, run to close
We advised the owners of Ecologic, a founder-built Polish fleet-management and telematics SaaS company, on its sale to Everfield, a fund of Aquiline Capital Partners (ACP), announced on 30 June 2026. It is the kind of off-market, founder-owned asset a buy-side client wants access to, and the kind of discreet, competitive process we run end to end.
We were on the sell-side of that process. On a buy-side mandate the direction reverses and the work does not: registry filings first, then a direct approach to an owner who is not running a process and has no reason to answer a generic enquiry.
Where buyers start
Sector-specific guides on acquiring in Poland, with the questions a buyer should ask.
Buy-side questions we hear most
Can a foreign company acquire a business in Poland?
Yes. There is no general restriction on foreign acquirers of Polish companies. Certain regulated or strategic sectors trigger a foreign-direct-investment (FDI) screening or sector consents, which we flag early and coordinate with local counsel. Most technology and services acquisitions do not.
How do you find off-market targets?
We build the target universe from primary KRS registry filings and our own ICT database, then approach owners directly and discreetly. That surfaces founder-owned companies that never run a public auction, rather than recycling a broker list.
What does a buy-side engagement cost?
A buy-side mandate usually combines a retainer that covers the origination and screening work with a success fee on completion. We agree the structure in writing before we start, so there is no ambiguity about what you pay and when.
How long does a buy-side process take?
From a defined mandate to a signed deal is typically several months, driven by how tightly the criteria are set, how many credible targets exist and how ready the owners are. A precise brief shortens it; a vague one lengthens it.
HOW WE ASSESS TARGETS
Connect the target to your acquisition thesis.
Our Value Creation OS informs how we assess strategic fit. Agree the depth of analysis when commissioning research: a first screen uses public evidence; a deeper assessment needs additional data.
- 01
Evidence
What the company sells, who it serves and what available filings support. Every source has a date; missing information remains visible.
- 02
Value creation hypothesis
What the target could add to your group: a product, customer segment, capability or route to market. Potential synergies remain hypotheses.
- 03
Questions to validate
What would need to be true for the acquisition to work? We identify the next questions on revenue quality, owner dependence and integration.
A longlist is a research screen. Owner willingness is tested through market engagement; margins, retention and synergies require appropriate data and diligence. Deeper target assessments are scoped separately.
Have a target, a sector, or just a thesis?
Bring your acquisition criteria to a confidential scoping call. If the mandate is a fit, you leave with a view on how many credible targets exist and what a process would look like. No form, no obligation.
Or write to contact@visioneastadvisory.com. Updated 2026-10-09.