An ex-director of Financial Planning firm Bellpenny has launched a new IFA acquisition advisory business, which she claims provides the market’s ‘missing link’.

Dawn Pearce-Herzberg said she had gained a “unique, birds-eye view of the deal process” while she was operations director at Bellpenny.

Her new firm called Vines Row aims to “reinvent the existing match-making model currently being offered to IFA vendors and acquirers”, she said.

Managing director Ms Pearce-Herzberg said: "I've been involved in more than 25 IFA transactions over the past three years and this has given me a unique, birds-eye view of the deal process from both vendor and acquirer perspectives.

“Introducers fulfil an important role in bringing interested buyers and sellers together but there has always seemed to me to be a missing link in the existing model.

“I believe the initial match-making element should be just a starting point. It's after that the really hard work should begin and I'm determined that Vines Row will add value at every stage of the process, all the way through to deal completion.

“In my experience far too many deals break down for reasons other than price. I see Vines Row's role as being the oil in the transaction engine. We will save both buyers and sellers time, money and hassle but, ultimately, our job is all about getting more deals across the finish line."

Vines Row's services includes a purpose built data room, she said, with the aim to enable both vendor and acquirer to track the progress of the transaction online, in real-time, and will also facilitate a secure, well-managed due diligence process.

A tendering system will enable sellers to invite prospective acquirers to bid for their company.

Vines Row is targeting IFA buyers as well as vendors. It will offer acquirers a search facility, which is aimed at helping to identify suitable opportunities, tailored to their individual criteria.