Financial services M&A deal sourcing with FCA verified data
Distos turns the FCA Register into an AI-enriched discovery platform for private equity, corporate development and M&A teams looking for regulated financial services acquisition targets and bolt-on opportunities.
Our solution
From regulatory records to financial services acquisition intelligence
The public FCA Register is essential for checking whether a firm or individual is regulated. But it was built for verification, not deal sourcing.
Distos closes that gap by turning FCA Register data into a discovery platform for M&A and private equity teams, helping you identify, segment and prioritise regulated financial services firms for acquisition research, roll-up strategies and bolt-on deal origination.
Benefits
Built for deal teams mapping regulated financial services markets
Discover acquisition targets
Find FCA-regulated firms that match your investment thesis, platform strategy or bolt-on acquisition criteria.
Map fragmented markets
Build a clearer view of regulated financial services niches, appointed representative networks and long-tail firm populations.
Prioritise by regulatory profile
Use permissions, status, activities and firm structure to shortlist targets that fit your commercial and regulatory criteria.
Track market movement
Monitor new authorisations, permission changes, appointed representative movements and signals that can surface new opportunities.
Deal sourcing
Find regulated financial services acquisition targets
Search across FCA-regulated firms and people to surface acquisition targets that are difficult to find through the public Register alone.
Search by thesis
Find firms by activity, permission, status, location, structure and market niche.
Go beyond known names
The public FCA Register verifies firms you already know. Distos helps you discover firms you do not.
Market maps
Build market maps for fragmented FCA-regulated sectors
Map regulated markets such as advisers, wealth managers, appointed representatives, brokers and other FCA firm categories.
Segment the long tail
Move from broad market assumptions to defined firm populations and subsectors.
Understand networks
Identify appointed representative relationships, principal firms and related market structures.
Shortlisting
Shortlist targets using FCA permissions and firm profiles
Turn regulatory permissions, statuses and activities into practical filters for M&A research and private equity origination.
Filter by regulatory fit
Use permissions and authorisation status to qualify firms before deeper diligence.
Prioritise commercial relevance
Combine FCA data with enrichment signals to focus on the most relevant targets.
Deal Signals
Monitor market signals that can shape deal origination
Track changes in the FCA Register that may help your team spot new firms, consolidation themes or emerging bolt-on opportunities.
Track new authorisations
Identify newly authorised firms and changes that may affect market structure.
Spot network movement
Monitor appointed representative and principal firm changes across regulated networks.
BLOGS
Insights on FCA data for M&A and market mapping
Guides to using FCA Register data for acquisition target discovery, private equity deal sourcing, market mapping and commercial research.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Everything deal teams need to know about using Distos for financial services M&A deal sourcing and acquisition research.
Can Distos help with financial services M&A deal sourcing?
Yes. Distos helps M&A, private equity and corporate development teams discover, segment and prioritise FCA-regulated firms using enriched FCA Register data.
How is Distos different from the public FCA Register?
The public FCA Register is for looking up firms you already know by firm name, FRN, individual or trading name. You can't discover firms based on critieria using the FCA Register. Distos is built for discovery, market mapping and acquisition target research.
Can I find bolt-on acquisition targets with Distos?
Yes. Distos can help identify FCA-regulated firms that match a platform strategy, sector focus, permission profile, geography or other bolt-on acquisition criteria.
Can I use FCA permissions to shortlist acquisition targets?
Yes. Distos turns regulatory permissions, statuses and activities into practical filters that can support initial target screening and M&A research.
Does Distos include appointed representatives?
Yes. Distos helps identify appointed representatives, principal firms and related network relationships that may matter for financial services market mapping.
Can Distos help build a financial services market map?
Yes. Distos helps build defined market maps of FCA-regulated firms across niches such as advisers, wealth managers, brokers, appointed representatives and other regulated categories.
Can I export target lists from Distos?
Yes. Distos supports workflows for creating structured lists that can be used for acquisition research, outreach planning, CRM enrichment and internal market mapping.
Who is this soution aimed at?
This solution is built for private equity investors, M&A advisers, corporate development teams, search funds, consolidators and strategy teams researching regulated financial services markets for M&A, acquisition and bolt on opportunities.
Can I find IFA firms for sale using Distos?
Yes, Distos allows you to target IFA and wealth management firms specifically, and setup alerts for new firms that meet your criteria. Distos enables you to segment companies by permissions and focus area. So if you're a PE consolidator looking for the next IFA firm to join your platform, Distos can help you source the targets.
