Inside the World of $70 Million Business Deals with Nigel Gill
Inside the World of $70 Million Business Deals with Nigel Gill
When Nigel Gill talks about selling businesses worth tens of millions, he does so with the calm pragmatism of someone who has seen both sides of the deal. From a $37 million medical transaction to mining services firms turning over $100 million or more, his career has been shaped by scale and a deliberate decision to operate where fewer brokers play.
“I very rarely receive less than $100,000 as a fee,” he said. “You don’t do a lot of those in a year… but you don’t need to.”
From Equities to Enterprises
Nigel’s path into business broking began in financial markets. Trained as an equities adviser, he spent most of his early career as a financial advisor / sharebroker, working closely with investors and managing portfolios. Along the way, he built and eventually sold a sizable financial advisory business in Perth to a Commonwealth Bank owned financial dealer group around 2008 / 09.
That transaction proved formative. “It was a fairly decent transaction,” Nigel explained, noting the experience gave him insight into both corporate advisory and business sales.
Like many brokers, his foundation was in finance, but his exposure leaned more toward markets than accounting.
The timing of that sale, during a downturn in financial markets, also prompted a career rethink. “I wasn’t particularly keen at that point to carry on,” he said. Instead, he began looking for a different path that would still leverage his financial background.
Launching Ascend Corporate
That opportunity came through a former client, a veteran Perth broker with more than 30 years’ experience, Lance White, Nigel Gill acquired and merged the small practice of four or five brokers and collectively Nigel and Lance rebranded it as Ascend Corporate.
The move into broking felt natural. “It was a good area to get into for a former financial advisor,” he said. The industry’s overlap with finance, valuation, and deal structuring meant his skills transferred readily.
From the outset, however, Nigel had a clear idea about where he wanted to specialise, and it wasn’t in general small business sales.
Carving Out a Mining Niche
Operating out of the West Perth area (for now 20 plus years) which Nigel describes as a “boutique business precinct” and the “Silicon Valley of mining”, he gradually shifted focus toward mining services.
Rather than selling mining tenements or exploration assets, Nigel targets the businesses that support the sector. “I’m not a tenement broker,” he said. “I sell the businesses that sell the shovels.”
That includes equipment hire companies, civil contractors, maintenance providers, hydraulic specialists, and drill-and-blast operators and technical mining services .
Over time, he has also expanded into adjacent niches such as environmental services, corrosion control, and water treatment, as each is closely tied to mining operations.
“The interesting part is I could just stay in this space, and there’s plenty to do,” Nigel explained. “There are literally hundreds of niche categories… many of them are quite massive in their own right.”
Depth Over Breadth
Nigel’s strategy is built on depth of knowledge rather than a broad range of listings. It took years to develop expertise in mining services, but the payoff has been access to larger, more complex transactions.
His typical deals range from $5 million to $25 million in value, with a steady pipeline of businesses in the $25 million to $75 million range and occasional opportunities above that.
This focus sets him apart from brokers operating in lower-value segments. “It’s given me an opportunity to sell, on average, larger businesses than many of the business brokers in Australia,” he said. As a broker in this sector , you need to accept the time lines and complexity is often longer and more onerous .
He points out that industries like mining inherently support higher valuations due to the capital intensity of plant and equipment, which is something not always present in other sectors.
Deals That Stand Out
Among Nigel’s notable transactions is the sale of a large GP medical group for $37 million, demonstrating his ability to step outside mining when the right opportunity arises.
Within his core sector, he has brokered sales of iron ore haulage businesses, equipment hire firms, and specialised engineering companies fabricating components for the industry. One example was a mining-focused vehicle hire business sold for around $35 million, while another transaction involved an engineering certification business acquired by a UK-based group for $16.7 million.
He has also built a strong track record in the water treatment sector, completing multiple deals in that space. That success has led to an ongoing role as a buyer’s agent for an international backed group seeking acquisitions in Australia.
“I act as their ears in Australia,” he said, describing how relationships built through previous transactions can evolve into ongoing opportunities.
The Reality of Large Deals
Working at the upper end of the market comes with trade-offs. Larger deals require a longer settlement timeline, typically six to 18 months and involve more complex processes.
“It’s a big process in the transactions that are $20 million and more,” Nigel said.
Despite that, he often manages 10 to 15 engagements at a time. The key lies in efficient marketing and a well-developed network. With thousands of industry contacts and a strong LinkedIn presence, he can quickly distribute opportunities to a targeted audience.
“The world’s gotten smaller in that respect,” he said. “You can push that out in seconds to thousands.”
Technology has also played a role. Video calls, in particular, have transformed how deals are managed, enabling buyers and sellers to connect easily across different locations. “It’s definitely made the world a lot smaller,” he noted.
A Different Income Model
Nigel is candid about the economics of business broking. In his view, earning at the higher end of the profession requires a focus on larger transactions and correspondingly higher fees.
“Our brokers have been able to achieve half a million to a million dollars a year in personal brokerage income,” Nigel commented. “ I'd say in reality there are only a minority of business brokers that produce in that annual range ” excluding the income we derive from practice profits.
He argues that brokers who deal primarily with business sales of $1 million to $5 million face a natural ceiling due to time constraints and lower fees. By contrast, higher-value deals, often generating fees of $200,000 or more, lead to higher income with fewer transactions.
“It’s difficult to really make a high income without having a fairly high average fee,” he said. “That means the value of the business has got to be high.”
This positioning places him between traditional business brokers and corporate advisers, who typically focus on much larger, often listed, transactions.
Tools, Not Replacements
While technology has improved efficiency, Nigel sees limited disruption from artificial intelligence in the short term.
“I can’t see AI replacing the activities of business brokers,” he said, noting the highly personalised nature of the work.
He does use digital tools to assist with documentation, such as information memorandums, but emphasises that each business requires tailored analysis and presentation. “They haven’t demonstrated to me that you can just put in some information and have AI write your whole IM,” he said.
Looking ahead, he expects AI to play a supporting role in areas like valuation and data analysis, rather than replacing brokers altogether.
Staying in the Sweet Spot
For Nigel, specialising in mining services businesses is the cornerstone of his success as a business broker in Western Australia. He notes that even niche categories can support substantial business brokerages, creating a steady pipeline of opportunities for those with the expertise to navigate them.
“My theme would be that the area of mining services is so broad… there’s work there to specialise,” he said.
That specialisation, combined with a willingness to operate in longer deal cycles has defined Nigel’s career as a business broker. It’s a model that may not suit every broker, but for Nigel, it has proven both sustainable and rewarding.
And in a sector where fortunes are often built from the ground up, he has found his own way to add value.
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