Defence M&A Advisory
Strategic advice and M&A transactions for founder-led defence businesses.
Building a defence business is different.
You operate in long procurement cycles. You invest ahead of revenue. You carry compliance weight. You manage clearances, program risk and delivery complexity, often with a small, highly capable team. And when the time comes to grow, raise capital or consider an exit, the stakes are high.
Morgan Shaw Advisory works with founder-led and mid-market defence businesses across Australia to help them prepare, position and transact from strength.
Big Ideas,
Real Results.
Many defence businesses are built by technically exceptional founders who have spent years earning trust inside Defence and with primes.
Exiting or bringing in a partner is not just a financial decision it’s a legacy decision.
If you are a defence business owner considering growth, capital or transition in the next 1–5 years, we welcome a confidential conversation.
Our Positive Impact"I’ll never forget the day I beagn partnering with MSA. I had access to the thought leadership I needed to get the value my business deserved. I’m not just getting by anymore, I’m building towards something stronger."
Over
$50 billion
in additional defence funding is committed over the next decade.
What everyone needs to know in defence M&A.
Preparation is Key.
Most founders wait too long to prepare for capital or exit.
MSA work alongside you well before a transaction to:
Strengthen financial clarity and reporting
Improve operational resilience
Reduce key-person risk
Clarify growth strategy and positioning
Align leadership for the next phase
In defence, credibility drives valuation.
Preparation protects it.
1.
What Serious Buyers Look For.
In today’s market, defence businesses achieving strong outcomes typically demonstrate:
Multi-year, funded contract exposure
Clear alignment to priority Defence programs
Differentiated or mission-critical capability
Recurring sustainment or integration revenue
Margin discipline under complex program delivery
Reduced dependency on the founder
Many strong businesses have these fundamentals, they’re just not always structured or articulated clearly.
That’s where preparation makes the difference.
2.
The defence sector is shaped by:
Long-dated, funded government programs
Prime contractor supply chains
Sovereign capability priorities
Export controls and foreign investment rules
Backlog visibility and program concentration risk
Heightened buyer scrutiny
This is not a generic M&A market. Buyers assess risk differently. Valuations are driven by contract certainty, delivery resilience and technical defensibility not just revenue growth.
We help you present your business the way strategic defence buyers actually evaluate it.
Knowing the defence M&A environment is the first step.
End-to-End Defence M&A Execution
When the time is right, we manage the full transaction process:
Strategic positioning and buyer targeting
Discreet engagement with defence-aligned acquirers
Structured negotiations
Diligence management
Regulatory navigation including FIRB where required
Every mandate is senior-led and confidential. No templates. No volume approach.
Just disciplined execution.
Get your Defence M&A update here.
Download the MSA, Defence Market Update.
Whatever you're journey, we're here to help you take the first step with confidence.
-
We're a boutique Corporate Advisory and M&A firm dedicated to supporting founder‑led and
family‑owned businesses maximise value. -
MSA wants to see business owners significantly improve the value of their business way before a transaction. And when it finally does come to a transaction, whether that be a capital raise, an acquisition, an IPO, or an exit/sale of the business, MSA will manage the entire process from beginning to end.
-
We work with established, founder-led defence SMEs and sovereign capability providers supplying Defence or prime contractors. Our clients operate in specialised, mission-critical niches with contract-backed revenue and are considering growth, capital partnership or exit, seeking a disciplined, senior-led advisory approach aligned to the realities of the defence sector.
We asked our clients, “What would you like others to know about your experience with Morgan Shaw Advisory”.
This was their response.
The MSA difference.
We Care.
We always look at our client’s business through ‘buyer’s eyes’.
We ensure our clients are ‘Game Ready’ in advance of an event, maximising the value prior to any transaction.
We ‘walk alongside’ our clients on their journey and as a team, so business owners get all of us.
With the combination of Strategy Advisory, M&A Transaction as well as individual, team or peer-to-peer Coaching & Mentoring services, businesses have a full end-to-end solution.
Like to learn more?
Let’s chat.
Morgan Shaw Advisory
Suite 3.02, Level 3
89 York Street
Sydney NSW 2000
General enquiries
info@morganshawadvisory.com
+61 1300 980 344