We acquire and back profitable, owner-led UK businesses.

Amber Torch is a UK-based buyer of established, founder-led companies whose owners are ready to step back. We back the existing team, structure deals owners can actually live with, and hold for the long term — no fixed exit timeline.

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Investment Criteria

We evaluate every business on its own merits, but we're particularly attracted to the following.

Category What we look for
Business Characteristics
  • 3+ years of profitable trading
  • Multiple embedded, repeatable revenue lines
  • Existing management layer beyond the founder
  • Low day-to-day reliance on the departing owner
  • Genuine headroom for growth, not just steady state
  • Low customer concentration
Target Sectors
  • Edtech & education services
  • Government & public sector services
  • Training, accreditation & certification
  • Established "unglamorous" industries — print, trade, manufacturing-adjacent services
  • Owner-led B2B services
Owner Profile
  • Founder-led, typically aged 55+
  • Retirement or lifestyle motivated — not a distressed sale
  • Ready to step back from day-to-day operations
  • Open to vendor loan / deferred consideration
Financial Criteria
  • £300k – £1m adjusted EBITDA
  • £8m – £15m revenue
  • 20 – 80 employees
  • Majority acquisition, typically 100%
  • Minimum 3-year vendor loan / deferred consideration preferred

For Owners

What we offer sellers

  • We back your existing management team — we don't replace it
  • Majority acquisition with vendor-friendly, deferred consideration
  • A UK-based chairman/investor, not a full-time operator parachuted in
  • Committed to keeping your company's name, culture and people intact
  • No fixed exit deadline — built to hold and grow, not flip

About

David Bartlett

David is a post-exit founder who previously built and sold a UK business. He is now acquiring UK service companies through Amber Torch, taking a chairman/investor role and backing existing management to run the business day-to-day. Amber Torch is structured to hold and grow companies for the long term, with the intention of building a small portfolio over time.

Contact

Own a business, or know someone thinking about retirement?

Get in touch — every conversation is confidential.

db@davidsbartlett.com