Grant Thornton acquires M&A consultancy Fairgrove
Grant Thornton has looked to make the most of its recent private equity backing, by investing in Fairgrove Partners. The acquisition of the consultancy will boost the firm’s deals advisory business, as it looks to expand its share of mid-market clients across the UK.
Founded in 2013, Fairgrove Partners is a strategic advisory firm, serving corporations, private equity funds and their portfolio companies, and the family offices of high-net-worth individuals. The firm is based in London, and serves clients in the UK, US, China and Japan – and has grown in 12 of the last 13 years since inception, maintaining a client net promoter score above +65, since it first started tracking the metric in 2018.
Earlier in 2026, the firm was also named in Consultancy.UK’s annual ranking of top consulting firms in the UK. Fairgrove received a silver rating in M&A services, and gold in private equity expertise.
As it looks to make the most of its growing reputation, Fairgrove will now look to expand its footprint as part of Grant Thornton’s strategic advisory division. The firm has agreed to the acquisition of 100% of its share capital by Grant Thornton’s UK wing, in a move which will see Fairgrove retain its brand and leadership team, ensuring continuity of service and culture for its clients and employees.
Looking ahead, Fairgrove’s strategy clients will benefit from deeper sector expertise, greater analytical and advisory scale, and enhanced value creation capability, while private equity and M&A clients will be able to commission a fully joined-up CDD, FDD and Tax DD proposition, expediting deals and ensuring consistency of insight and opinion on buy-side and sell-side transactions.
Fairgrove co-founding partner, Patrick Woodrow, commented, “I am hugely excited to announce this acquisition, which is testament to the calibre of our team and the quality of our work. Despite this track record, we are in no doubt that our best years lie ahead. In Grant Thornton we are partnering with a long-standing client and friend of the firm, who will invest in our business to realise our shared ambition of providing the best strategic advisory service to the UK mid-market.”
Grant Thornton’s UK wing meanwhile has a leading mid-market deals advisory business, completing 246 transactions in 2025 with a cumulative value of £12.3 billion; 53% of those transactions involved private equity and 24% had international involvement. The acquisition of Fairgrove builds upon the firm’s wider investment in senior talent – backed by recent investment from private equity firm Cinven – with 41 equity partners who have already started in 2026 and a further 43 in the pipeline towards its target of appointing 160 partners by the end of 2027.
Malcolm Gomersall, UK CEO at Grant Thornton, added, “Fairgrove has built a strong reputation for practical, evidence-based advice in strategy, transaction support and commercial due diligence. Bringing that expertise together with Grant Thornton UK’s broader advisory capabilities will allow us to provide even stronger support to clients as they make important growth, investment and transaction decisions. It is also another clear example of how we are investing in the senior talent and specialist capabilities needed to strengthen our market-leading deals advisory business.”
