Buy-Side Deal Origination · Any Sector · North America · Europe · Middle East
Retained buy-side deal origination: Sentinel sources, qualifies, and introduces off-market targets for PE-backed consolidators and acquisitive platforms — any sector, any geography — owner-verified, criteria-matched, and never on a broker's site.
Most acquirers see what's for sale. Our partners see the market.
1,000+ owners reached every day — a pace most firms celebrate per quarter
✓ Confidential · ✓ Principal replies within one business day · ✓ Backed by the 90-day commitment — or tell us the full mandate →
How mandates run
Corporate Development as a Service
We work as a seamless extension of your corporate development function — the sourcing machine behind your add-on program, your new platform, or your single needle-mover. You keep the strategy and the relationships. We supply the proprietary market coverage, the direct owner outreach, and the qualified, approval-gated introductions.
Live Mandates · Anonymized by policy
Our partners include some of the largest PE-backed consolidators in North America — their identities are never disclosed, a confidentiality that is contractual and will protect you too. The mandates themselves are live.
Multi-op general practices for a PE-backed DSO platform in active add-on mode.
Specialty practices for a consolidator building regional density in growth metros.
General-practice veterinary hospitals for an acquisitive platform expanding coverage.
Own a business that fits one of these? The same confidentiality applies to you — start a quiet conversation → · Building a platform? See the full board →
Global capability · Local execution
The Sentinel Method
A qualified call means every criterion met and the owner said yes — nothing softer counts. Origination is a funnel, and we run it as one: every stage counted, every window clocked, reviewed with you on a fixed cadence.
Your criteria — geography, size, specialty, payer mix, transition structure — becomes the sourcing definition we run against.
Proprietary data infrastructure plus direct owner outreach surfaces off-market candidates. Each is screened and spoken to before you see it.
Every target is submitted to you by name for written approval first. Decline any target, any reason. Your name never travels without sign-off.
We arrange the substantive discussion between your team and the owner — then serve as the back channel that keeps the deal warm to close.
Each qualified target is allocated to a single partner at a time, matched on mandate fit and tracked in our CRM under defined advancement windows. Your deal flow is never a race against our other relationships.
We never disclose partner identities, mandates, or terms — to anyone. The confidentiality you can see on the mandate board is the same discipline that will guard yours.
The honest comparison
| Brokered listings | Sentinel | Build in-house | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it works for | The seller — always | You — one partner at a time | You — if you can staff it |
| Competition per deal | Every buyer in the market | None at introduction — allocated to one partner | Depends on your reach |
| Coverage | Whatever happens to list | The mapped market universe | Limited by team hours |
| Your name's exposure | Public interest, fast | Travels only with your written approval | Yours to manage |
| Cost structure | Priced into the auction premium | Retainer + success, pilot, or success-only | 2–4 seats + data stack + management time |
| Time to live pipeline | Immediate but shared | First submissions in weeks | 6–12 months to build |
For Private Equity — Direct
Retained origination for your portfolio platforms — the machine behind 4–10 closings per partner, per year, running against each portco's mandate.
We source the founding acquisition for a new platform — new sector or new geography — then build the pipeline behind it.
$25M+ mandates welcome. Our largest transactions are sourced and worked end-to-end by our practice.
We helped a private equity firm's portfolio DSO grow from 25 to over 100 locations. The fund then hired us directly — to launch an entirely new DSO in a new geography. We sourced the founding acquisition; the platform is live and acquiring. (Fund and platform confidential by policy.)
Whether you're deploying into an existing platform, incubating the next one, or hunting a single needle-mover — the engine is the same: the whole market mapped, owners reached directly, targets qualified in their own words. The PE page →
Engagement
Every partner gets access to our deal flow. Retained partners get a team — a dedicated sourcing and deal team working your buy-box every day, an engaged extension of your own. A retainer isn't a subscription to introductions; it's people staffed to your mandate, from first outreach to closed deal.
Two full-time reps making 60+ outbound reaches each, every day — plus a full-time qualifier and your partner managers, staffed to your mandate. First look on every target, teammates all the way to the close.
Success-fee-only mandates run a few points higher than retained. On a single closing, that difference alone can run into six figures on larger deals — the fee savings on one close typically outweigh a year of retainer. Everything above it is position.
| Line by line | Retained Partner | Success-Fee Partner |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated team | Two full-time reps at 60+ reaches/day each, plus a full-time qualifier and your partner managers — staffed to your mandate. | Nothing dedicated. If we come across a fit, we send it over. |
| Target flow | First look on every target, worked with you alone, never shopped — proprietary, buy-box-matched flow. | Sees a target only after retained windows on it have lapsed. |
| Working rhythm | Weekly pipeline call + daily contact — every target reviewed, meetings coordinated, deals advanced. | Ad hoc. You hear from us when something surfaces. |
| Accountability | Defined activity targets, reported monthly. You see the work, not just the outcomes. | No defined activity level or reporting. |
| Conflict protection | Objective, records-evidenced exclusion — with binding, per-target written notice. What's yours is documented, not implied. | The same standard in principle — without the written per-target locks. |
| Execution | Teammates to the close — valuation, LOI, structuring, diligence, seller management; lender/QoE/legal intros on request. | Introduction and handoff. |
| Fee schedule | Preferred schedule — below success-only on every deal you close. | Runs a few percentage points higher than retained. |
| Commitment | One quarter to start, month-to-month after — walk away any month with notice. | No commitment either way — and no committed resources. |
A defined trial with real sourcing and real introductions — everything a retained partner gets, for a set window. Success-only is available too, if you'd rather we simply flag the occasional needle-mover — but it's the opportunistic path, not a program built. Most partners start on a pilot, then retain.
One quarter to start. You'll know inside 30 days.
Skeptical? Good. That's the job.
We publish no client names — that's contractual, and it's the same policy that will guard your mandate. So instead of logos, we make verification free:
Recent partner references — provided during your diligence of us, with fuller disclosure as mutual confidentiality allows.
On the first call we'll walk you through the live funnel — real counts at every stage — so the cadence you read here is the cadence you see.
A qualified-call floor, agreed in writing — plus pilot and success-only structures. If the pipeline isn't real, you've risked nothing.
Working with the team gave our corporate development function a pipeline we couldn't have built internally — qualified, quiet, and consistent.
VP Corporate Development · Platform partner · identity confidential by policySelected transactions · Anonymized by policy
A sample of transactions our practice originated and worked end-to-end — sectors and structures shown, identities held in confidence.
From the Desk
Start a quiet conversation
Tell us your mandate — a principal replies within one business day. Or call us directly. Everything is confidential by policy.
Toronto & San Francisco
Distributed global team · 24/7 coverage
A qualified-call floor, in writing
A principal replies within one business day.
✓ Confidential by policy · ✓ Principal replies in one business day · ✓ Backed by the 90-day commitment
Sentinel Corporate Development is the buy-side origination practice of Wolfson Equity.
M&A ADVISORY · ACQUISITIONS · CAPITAL — TORONTO & NORTH AMERICA-WIDE
A qualified call: every criterion met, and the owner said yes to the meeting, calibrated to the mandate. The floor for your mandate is agreed before signing and reported weekly.
Decide for yourself, before you talk to us