Transaction Advisory Services in the UAE
A transaction is only as good as the information behind it. Whether you’re acquiring a company, selling a family business, bringing in an investor, or restructuring debt, the gap between a good deal and a costly mistake usually comes down to what due diligence uncovered before anyone signed anything. MARKEF’s Transaction Advisory team supports buyers, sellers, and investors across the full deal lifecycle — from early target evaluation through post-completion support — with the financial, tax, and commercial analysis you need to negotiate from knowledge, not assumption.
What Are Transaction Advisory Services?
Transaction advisory sits alongside not instead of — the mergers and acquisitions process. Where M&A advisory focuses on deal strategy, sourcing, and structuring, transaction advisory provides the independent evidence a buyer, seller, or lender needs at each stage of a specific deal: is the target’s earnings quality real, are its tax positions clean, will the operations survive a change of ownership, and what should any of that mean for price.
If you’re earlier in the process and weighing whether to pursue a merger or acquisition at all, our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory page is the right place to start. If you already have a transaction in motion and need the underlying analysis to negotiate and close it well, that’s what this page — and this team — is for.
Our Due Diligence Services
Financial Due Diligence
We examine the target's financial statements, accounting policies, and quality of earnings — testing whether reported profit is real, recurring, and reflective of how the business actually performs, rather than a product of one-off items or aggressive accounting choices. This includes working capital analysis, debt-like item identification, and normalized EBITDA, so the number you're negotiating around reflects the business you're actually buying.
Tax Due Diligence
Corporate Tax, VAT, and Transfer Pricing are all now active in the UAE, and historical exposure in any of the three can surface during a transaction and affect price, structure, or timing. Our tax due diligence reviews filing history, related-party arrangements, and Free Zone qualifying status, working alongside our Corporate Tax, VAT, and Transfer Pricing teams — so tax risk gets priced into the deal, not discovered after it closes.
Commercial Due Diligence
We look at the target's market position, customer concentration, and competitive dynamics. A business can look strong on paper and still be exposed to a handful of customers, a shifting market, or a supplier relationship that doesn't survive a change of ownership.
Operational Due Diligence
We assess the processes, systems, supply chain, and cost structure behind the numbers, to confirm the business can keep running the way its financials assume it does.
Legal & Regulatory Coordination
Working alongside legal counsel, we help verify corporate structure, licensing, ownership, and change-of-control provisions in material contracts — including agreements with government or semi-government entities, which are common in the UAE and often carry clauses that affect how a deal needs to be structured.
Buy-Side and Sell-Side Support
If you're buying or investing:
our buy-side due diligence gives you an independent view of what you're actually paying for — the value drivers, the risks, and the issues that should be negotiated into price or protected through the sale agreement, before you're committed.
If you're selling:
a vendor due diligence report puts you in control of the narrative. Addressing weaknesses before a buyer finds them, and presenting your financial position with independent credibility, tends to shorten the process and protect the value you've built — which matters most for owner-run and family businesses going through a sale for the first time.
Why Transaction Advisory Matters in the UAE Right Now
The UAE transaction environment has shifted considerably since 2023, and due diligence has had to keep up with it.
- Corporate Tax, VAT, and Transfer Pricing rules are all in force, and historical positions are being reviewed more closely as enforcement matures — a clean audit history is no longer proof of a clean deal.
- For targets that sit within a larger group structure, Pillar Two and the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax can affect Free Zone valuations and group-level tax exposure.
- The rollout of mandatory e-invoicing is giving regulators far more visibility into a target's compliance history, which means gaps that once went unnoticed are becoming easier to find — before or after a deal closes.
- A growing share of UAE M&A activity is succession-driven, as family businesses plan for the next generation or bring in outside capital, often for the first time and without a playbook for the process.
- Where property sits inside the target's structure, real estate due diligence needs to account for Dubai Land Department registration and rules that can differ across emirates.
Our Process
01
Scoping & Engagement
We define the transaction, the timeline, and the areas of highest risk before work begins, so effort goes where it matters most.
02
Fieldwork & Analysis
Financial, tax, commercial, and operational review, scaled to the size and complexity of the target.
03
Reporting on Value & Risk
Findings that connect directly to price, deal structure, or warranties, not a document that restates the target’s own numbers back to you.
04
Negotiation Support
We help translate what we found into actual negotiating points.
04
Post-Deal Support
Support through completion and into the early integration period, where deal value is often won or lost.
Who We Work With
Trading and distribution businesses, real estate and construction, hospitality and F&B, professional and business services, and a particular area of focus for our team family-owned and multi-generational businesses and owner-managed SMEs across the UAE.
Why Work With MARKEF
01
One team, one file.
MARKEF already provides accounting, audit, VAT, and Corporate Tax services to businesses across the UAE — transaction advisory sits alongside services we already deliver, so less time is spent bringing outside advisors up to speed on a business we may already know.
02
ACCA Approved Employer.
Our accounting and finance professionals are trained to a recognized international standard.
03
Built for the UAE's SME and family business segment.
We understand the difference between advising a listed multinational and advising a founder selling the business they built, and we structure our engagements accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Due diligence is one part of transaction advisory. Transaction advisory covers the full process — due diligence, valuation support, deal structuring, and negotiation support — from early evaluation through to post-completion.
Most SME engagements are scoped to run two to six weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the target, how well-organized its records already are, and how many areas need close review.
Often more so than for a larger one. Bigger deals tend to come with more advisors and more formal processes already built in. Smaller UAE acquisitions and family business transitions are more likely to involve informal records, undocumented related-party arrangements, or tax positions no one outside the business has ever reviewed, exactly where due diligence adds the most value.
Buy-side due diligence is commissioned by the buyer, to test what they’re being asked to pay for. Sell-side, or vendor, due diligence is commissioned by the seller ahead of going to market, to identify and address issues before a buyer finds them.
Because Corporate Tax, VAT, and Transfer Pricing are all active, tax due diligence now has to look at historical filing positions, not just current compliance. Liabilities from prior periods can transfer to the buyer along with the business itself.
As early as possible, ideally before a letter of intent is signed. The earlier we’re involved, the more our findings can shape price and structure, rather than simply confirm what’s already been agreed.
Talk to a Markef consultant today
Book a free consultation and we’ll map out where we can add the most value to your business.