You’ve built a strong company in the legal and compliance technology space. You have product-market fit, great traction and momentum, and your metrics tick all the boxes.

You see strategics and sponsors pouring into this large, dynamic space. They’re looking for a company like yours that sits at the intersection of legal and regulatory,  corporate governance, and digital transformation. They’re looking for their next growth engine.

It’s not enough to just capture their attention. To hold it and position your organization for a premium multiple requires a special blend of storytelling, number-crunching, market knowledge, negotiating finesse, and creativity. With the right banker, you’ll have all that — and more — in your arsenal. Here’s what you need to command a premium valuation in the legal and compliance tech sphere.

A Narrative That Drives Strategic Impact

You have to do more than present your revenue and growth metrics; you need to tell a sophisticated, credible story that resonates with your specific buyer.

Tailor your narrative to answer four key questions that buyers are asking — and that help drive premium valuations:

1. How does your platform uniquely address the product and solution gaps that strategic acquirers are desperate to fill? Where’s the whitespace—geographically, functionally, and by end-market—that your solution fills?
2. What are the near-term or incremental growth initiatives that will accelerate your organic growth? The goal is to position the upside and ROI for these initiatives  and show the operating leverage that will emerge from them.
3. What is the platform potential for financial sponsors? Private equity funds looking to stake a claim in this market don’t just want a standalone asset. They need a “string of pearls” roadmap for future M&A. They need to know your business can serve as the cornerstone for bolt-on acquisitions that deploy more capital efficiently and accelerate their return horizon.
4. What emerging trends and buying behaviors are shaping the space? Your banker should understand the pain points of corporate legal departments and compliance officers to help you craft a narrative that explains how regulation is creating tailwinds and why product integration is driving consolidation.

Developing a story that subtly yet clearly answers these questions is a tall order for any CEO, which is where your banker comes in. Some investment banks might run an auction and slap some comps on a slide, but ones with deep expertise in the legal and compliance tech fields know how to communicate the explicit value of your organization to a buyer in more than just numbers. 

As the most active banker globally focused in legal and compliance tech, Marks Baughan has perfected this approach. Our multi-decade track record of obtaining premium valuations for our clients includes landmark transactions with the leading SaaS, workflow, content, and AI players in the sector.

Market Fluency to Navigate Nuances

The legal and compliance solutions sector is no sleepy backwater; it is a massive and accelerating market shaped by complexity and specialization. Each subsegment requires fluency and a granular understanding of competitive dynamics.

Generalist bankers simply can’t bring this knowledge to the table. Only dealmakers who are steeped in this market can offer specialized expertise and experience in:

• The nuanced motivations of corporate, strategic buyers like Thomson Reuters, Litera, Onit, Mitratech, and Wolters Kluwer.
• The ambitions of major private equity funds eager to enter the space but lacking either the initial platform or a clear acquisition roadmap.
• The global competitive landscapes where emerging players, vertical solutions, and geographic differences all matter.
• The potential bluebird buyers. Strategics from adjacent — or even seemingly unrelated — sectors may have interest in entering your subsegment or have gaps you may fill.

This type of sector intimacy is unique to Marks Baughan whose bankers have 20+ years of dedicated coverage in these markets under their belts. In fact, Marks Baughan has completed three times as many deals in this space as our nearest competitor. Our bankers’ prowess and expertise translate directly into superior positioning that drives premium valuations for our clients. After all, buyers pay more when they believe they are buying not just a business but a position of strength and future potential.

Creative Transaction Ideas to Open up Opportunities

One of the most valuable — yet least-appreciated — advantages of working with a specialist investment bank is your access to a treasure trove of unique potential transaction ideas.

These bankers don’t just show up for the marquee deal. They’re continuously engaged with companies across the entire spectrum of legal and compliance tech to hone strategic intel that supports out-of-the-box thinking during a transaction.

For example, when a private equity firm is looking to build a platform investment, an investment bank like Marks Baughan doesn’t just identify a flagship asset. We quickly map out dozens of smaller, actionable bolt-on acquisitions that allow a buyer to deploy additional capital, accelerate scale, and create multiple arbitrage opportunities that can generate massive value and accelerate return horizons.

We help you create more value to drive a higher premium by assembling smaller, strategic pieces — put together using our deep sector knowledge.

The Bottom Line About Your Banker

Choose a banker that not only ensures your company is expertly positioned for a premium valuation but runs your entire process with precision — from the opening kick-off call to the closing wire and beyond.

Why? Because high-valuation exits in legal and compliance technology don’t just happen. They’re engineered by bankers who understand the sector’s complexities, maintain relationships with all the right buyers, and position your business as the must-have platform that fits perfectly into a buyer’s strategic puzzle or a private equity sponsor’s platform vision. 

As the leading advisor and investment bank in legal and compliance, Marks Baughan is embedded in this market’s ecosystem. We bring insight, creativity, and connectivity that are nonpareil to global transactions. Learn more about our work here.