Service 03 · for agencies

The confidant in the room.

Buying, merging or selling an agency is rarely just a financial decision - it's personal. Bart has sat on both sides of the table many times. That experience makes IKAg the trusted guide you want beside you when the stakes, and the emotions, run high.

In short

What agency M&A is, and how the sale of an agency works

Agency M&A is the purchase, sale or merger of a creative, media or digital agency. On the sell side it involves an owner stepping out in full or in part; on the buy side, an agency or group buying capacity, clients or a specialism.

IKAg guides these processes and values agencies against the financial data of more than 1200 Belgian and Dutch agencies (as of 2026), built up since 2008.

A process usually runs in four phases: orientation, where the owner works out what they want; preparation, where the figures, the contracts and the client dependencies are put in order; finding and matching a counterparty; and the negotiation, with due diligence inside it.

The price of an agency depends less on revenue than on gross margin, on how predictable that margin is, and on how dependent it is on one client or one person. An agency where the founder carries every relationship is worth less to a buyer than the same agency with a team that takes over.

Most of the value is made before the conversation with a buyer. Transferable client contracts, a second layer of management and bookkeeping that can answer the questions all take time to build and cannot be improvised afterwards.

The questions we answer

Whichever side of the table you're on.

Sell-side

Get your agency deal-ready, find the right buyer, and negotiate terms that hold.

Buy-side

Source, assess and integrate the right acquisition - without overpaying.

Valuation & structure

Grounded in real market data from COMPARE and PITCHPOD, not wishful thinking.

The human side

The part no spreadsheet covers - and where deals are quietly won or lost.

How it works

A clear path, step by step.

Discretion is the whole point. We work quietly, and start earlier than most founders expect - because preparation is where value is made.

1

Orientation

What you want from the deal, and what your agency is really worth.

2

Prepare

Positioning, numbers and story - for buy-side or sell-side.

3

Find & match

The right counterparties, drawn from our deep network.

4

Negotiate & close

Terms, structure and the human dynamics, all the way to signature.

What you walk away with

A deal you can stand behind.

A grounded strategy and a steady hand through every stage - financial and emotional.

Request a quote
  • A realistic valuation and a clear deal strategy
  • A prepared agency (sell-side) or a sourced target (buy-side)
  • A negotiated structure and terms
  • A trusted guide through the whole process, start to finish
Good to know

Questions we get a lot.

Buy-side or sell-side?

Both. We guide founders looking to sell, and those looking to acquire or merge.

Is it confidential?

Absolutely - discretion is the entire premise of the work.

How is value determined?

Grounded in real market data from COMPARE and PITCHPOD, not a hopeful multiple.

When should we start?

Earlier than you think. Preparation is where most of the value is created.

Get in touch

Let's talk.

Call us, send an email, or fill in the form. We typically respond within a day.