For an owner weighing up a sale, trade buyer or private equity is usually the first real fork in the road. A trade buyer is buying a business to fit into its own: customers, a product, a territory, people. A private equity fund is typically buying a business to grow and sell again within a few years, and needs a management team that will stay to do it. It would be surprising if they bought the same kinds of business, and the register suggests they do not.
Across the 10,415 UK companies taken over by a trade buyer between 2019 and 2025, the median company was 15 years old when bought, and 38% had been incorporated 20 or more years before. Of the 1,351 bought by private equity, the median was 11 years, and 25% were 20 or more years old.
Show the figures
| Age when bought | Trade buyers | Companies | Private equity | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–4 years | 14.4% | 1,503 | 17.3% | 234 |
| 5–9 years | 17.9% | 1,865 | 25.2% | 340 |
| 10–19 years | 30.1% | 3,137 | 32.3% | 436 |
| 20–29 years | 19.0% | 1,979 | 15.0% | 203 |
| 30 years or more | 18.5% | 1,931 | 10.2% | 138 |
Among larger companies
The gap is, if anything, wider among larger companies. Of those with more than £10M of turnover, 51% of the 2,110 bought by trade buyers were 20 or more years old, against 36% of the 493 bought by private equity. The median age was 20 years against 15.
By sector
Manufacturing shows it most plainly: 64% of manufacturers bought by trade buyers were 20 or more years old, against 45% of those bought by private equity. In services the gap is narrower, and in information and communication, where few companies are old, it is small. Only the four sectors in which private equity bought 100 or more companies are shown.
Show the figures
| Sector | Trade buyers | Companies | Private equity | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 64.1% | 1,297 | 44.6% | 130 |
| Information and communication | 31.9% | 1,252 | 26.1% | 245 |
| Professional services | 31.7% | 1,739 | 20.9% | 302 |
| Business support | 30.0% | 1,122 | 22.5% | 173 |
What it means for an owner
Private equity does buy established businesses: 25% of its purchases here were 20 or more years old. But trade takeovers outnumber private equity deals in our data by about eight to one, and they lean older. For a long-established business, particularly one where the owner is in practice the management, a trade buyer is the more likely buyer, and a sale that goes only to funds may miss the likeliest ones.
Private equity tends to look for a business with a clear next stage of growth and a team able to deliver it without the owner. Where that is so, an investment rather than an outright sale can let an owner keep a stake in what comes next. Which route suits your business is worth settling early, because it shapes the preparation, and putting a team in place can take years.
How we worked this out
Figures are from Companies House as at 27th September 2026, chiefly the register of people with significant control. We looked at UK companies filing full, medium-sized or group accounts, and at changes of control between 2019 and 2025. A trade takeover is one where a trading company took majority control. A private equity deal is one where the chain of owners above a company ends at a fund, and a group bought at once counts as one deal. Trade takeovers leave out private equity funds and their vehicles, newly formed holding companies, and companies incorporated within the year before, which were set up rather than bought. Holding companies are left out of both.
A company’s age is counted from incorporation to the deal. A business may be older than the company that now owns it, so these ages, if anything, understate. The register shows today’s owners, so a company sold on since appears under its latest buyer. Turnover is from each company’s latest accounts. Sectors with fewer than 100 companies are not shown. No figure here identifies a company or a person.