About Exit Advisory Group
Senior advisers who are beside you, from valuation to sale.
We help you understand what your business is worth, build that value, and sell it on your terms.
You only sell a business once, and the outcome shapes the rest of your life. Exit Advisory Group is an Australian M&A advisory and business brokerage for lower to mid-market owners, led by Simon Bedard, National Chair of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers. We value your business, help you build that value, and sell it, with senior advisers beside you the whole way.
- $1.5B+
- In transactionsour team have been involved in
- 100+
- Years combined experiencein business sales, valuations & exit planning
- 10 years
- Operating in M&AExit Advisory Group was established in 2016
Accredited and regulated
Licensed, accredited and credentialed
Exit Advisory Group operates under an Australian Financial Services Licence, with brokerage accredited through the AIBB and valuations prepared by a Registered Business Valuer in accordance with the International Valuation Standards.
- AFSL
- Australian Financial Services Licence 700378
- Issued by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission
- AIBB
- Member, Australian Institute of Business Brokers
- RBV
- Registered Business Valuer Accreditation
- IVS
- Valuations prepared in accordance with the International Valuation Standards
Our Story
We're here for business owners like you.
You’ve spent years building your business. You carry cash flow, sales, staff and customers, and every hard decision lands with you. When you’re deep in the day to day, the future is the hardest thing to map.
You will exit one day, whether it’s around the corner or ten years out. What will that look like? Will you sell, hand the business to management, or prepare the next generation to take over? Exit Advisory Group works with owners of lower to mid-market businesses facing those exact questions.
We help you understand what your business is worth, when you can step back, and whether to sell or keep building toward a higher valuation. We know the challenges that come with a business your size, and we’re built to get you clear on your end game and the value you’ve created.
Specialists in M&A for the lower to mid-market: the gap the volume brokers rush and the big firms overlook.
Small Businesses
High-volume brokers
Built to move high volumes of smaller listings. They list and sell with speed, but the model isn't designed to build value first or to stand behind a credentialed valuation.
The Sweet Spot
Exit Advisory Group
Senior-led and strategic. We value your business, build that value, and sell it, all under one roof.
Big Business
Large corporate finance
Built for the biggest deals, where a business your size is rarely the priority. With us, the senior adviser who wins your deal is the one who runs it, start to finish.
See how this plays out for owners in our client case studies.
Our founder
Meet Simon Bedard, Managing Director
- Registered Business Valuer
- National Chair, AIBB
- Author, Exit Like an Expert
- Host, Buy Grow Sell
Simon Bedard is the Managing Director of Exit Advisory Group, a boutique Australian M&A advisory firm specialising in business sales, valuations, and exit and succession planning for owners of lower to mid-market businesses. He has over 25 years’ experience in finance, investment, energy and technology, including a previous role as an investment adviser to high-net-worth clients and private companies in the Institutional Banking and Global Markets division of one of Australia’s largest banks.
As an entrepreneur, Simon has started, bought and exited companies, and serves on several boards. He holds an MBA (with distinction) from RMIT and a Diploma of Financial Markets from the Securities Institute of Australia. Simon is the National Chair of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers (AIBB), a Registered Business Valuer (RBV), a Licensed Business Broker, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He’s the host of the Buy Grow Sell podcast and the author of Exit Like an Expert.
Advocacy
A national voice for Australian business owners
Simon’s work reaches beyond Exit Advisory Group. As National Chair of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers, he advocates for the country’s small and family business owners on the issue he sees every day: the succession cliff. A large share of owners are nearing retirement without a plan to exit or transition, and when a viable business can’t be sold or handed on, it too often simply closes, taking local jobs, services and decades of built-up value with it.
The numbers speak for themselves, of the businesses that go to market, only 20 to 30% ever complete a sale. Closing that gap, between the owners who need to exit and the businesses that are genuinely ready, is the work Exit Advisory Group was built to do.
That advocacy includes a submission to the Productivity Commission on the small-business succession crisis, engagement through COSBOA (the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia), and recognition of his small-business advocacy in the New South Wales Parliament in June 2026. It’s the same fight we’re in for you: helping owners prepare early and realise the value they’ve spent years building.
Michael Regan MP, Independent Member for Wakehurst 
Dr Sophie Scamps, Member for Mackellar
Senior bench
Who is on the team?
Simon leads a senior team with more than 100 years of combined experience across M&A, valuations, accounting and running real businesses. A few of the people you might work with:
Mark Levitt
Principal Adviser
Chartered Accountant with 30+ years across the Big Four accounting firms and banks.
Brent McDonald
Senior Adviser
Built and exited his own company; helped take Mortgage Choice from a franchise to an ASX-listed institution.
Matt Sykes
Principal Adviser
Chartered Accountant with an MBA and a PhD; involved in $1.5 billion of acquisitions.
Mark Napper
Principal Adviser
30+ years in senior executive roles; a business-turnaround specialist and ex-Ernst & Young.
Rod Hore
Head of M&A, Recruitment, Staffing & Offshoring
Founded HHMC in 1998; an M&A specialist for the recruitment, staffing and offshoring industry.
Richard Hayward
Senior Adviser, Recruitment, Staffing & Offshoring
Lead consultant on 60+ recruitment-sector equity transactions, on both the buy and sell side.
What makes us unique
How is Exit Advisory Group different?
We are deliberately small. We run ten to thirty mandates a year, not three thousand listings, and senior people, not juniors, do the work on every engagement. You wouldn’t hire a high-volume agency to sell a strategic asset; you’d want considered, confidential, senior advice. That is the firm we built.
Owners exit in different ways: a trade sale, a management buyout, handing over to the next generation, or simply building options and deciding later. We meet you where you are and build the plan around the outcome you want, on your timeline, across our valuation, business sales and exit & succession services.
Senior people on every engagement
The advisers who value your business are the ones who build its value and run the sale. We don't hand your deal to a junior.
Plain advice, not a pitch
We explain things in plain terms and tell you what we would do, including the parts that are uncomfortable to hear. No jargon wall, no pressure.
Considered, not high-volume
A small number of mandates means we have the time to prepare a business properly and represent it well, rather than process a listing.
Approachable, knowledgeable and straightforward. Never elitist, impersonal or pushy.
“You weren’t born to do business. You were born to live life. Your business is the vehicle to deliver the life you want.”
Our method
How we value and grow your business: VALUE360™
VALUE360™ does two things at once: it tells you what your business is worth today, and it gives you an actionable plan to grow that value before you sell. It scores the business across the five dimensions a buyer examines in due diligence, so you can fix what costs you value and build on what drives it.
- 01
Financial Performance: Understand how to improve performance and clear the red flags a buyer's diligence team looks for.
- 02
Growth System: Show where the next stage of growth comes from, so the value isn't all behind you.
- 03
Fulfilment System: Make delivery repeatable, so quality doesn't depend on you being in the room.
- 04
People & Leadership: Reduce the business's reliance on you, the biggest discount a buyer applies.
- 05
Operating System: Build the systems so the business runs, and keeps its value, when you step back.
New specialist industry vertical: Recruitment, Staffing, Offshoring M&A
Our merger with HHMC Global and what it means for business owners
Exit Advisory Group and HHMC Global merged to bring specialist recruitment, staffing and offshoring M&A onto a broader platform. HHMC, founded by Rod Hore, has advised the recruitment industry across Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia for more than two decades.
That work continues. Rod Hore and Richard Hayward remain directly involved, and recruitment-sector owners now reach valuations, buy-side and sell-side mandates and succession planning under Exit Advisory Group.
Simon BedardManaging Director, Exit Advisory Group 
Rod HoreHead of M&A, Recruitment, Staffing & Offshoring 
Richard HaywardSenior Adviser, Recruitment, Staffing & Offshoring
Recognition
Trusted by the experts, proven over the years
The thinking behind Exit Advisory Group’s work is set out in Exit Like an Expert: The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Business, written by our founder, Simon Bedard. It carries endorsements from people who advise on, fund and analyse deals at the highest level, from a Bain & Company advisory partner to one of Australia’s best-known economists.
“Simon's book on how to prepare for and realise value is a masterclass with relevance to advisers, investors and business owners.”
Suvir Varma
Advisory Partner, Bain & Company
“Simon has produced the handbook on how to successfully sell a business for the Australian market. This is a must for all business owners. It outlines how to make a sale that everyone is happy with.”
Warren Hogan
Australian economist
“Simon nails the reality of the deal process. This book teaches founders how to ensure their business is ready for a transaction so they can focus on negotiations without being caught off guard.”
Jason Marcus
Corporate Partner, Thomson Geer Lawyers
Events and education to support business owners
Our work with owners reaches beyond the deals we close. Over the years we’ve brought the business community together through events like our Buy Grow Sell Summits, which have gathered more than 5,000 owners and advisers on stages shared with names like Mark Bouris AM and Janine Allis, and our State of the Market events with leading economist Warren Hogan.
Buy Grow Sell Summits (2022 & 2023)
Keynote speakers including Mark Bouris AM and Janine Allis.
State of the Market (2024)
Co-hosted with leading economist Warren Hogan.
Podcast host
Buy Grow Sell
The podcast for owners looking to acquire, grow, or exit a business. Simon interviews business owners who share the highs of success and the hard lessons learned.
- 23K+
- Total downloads
- 4.8
- Podcast rating
- 100+
- Episodes
Taken together, it’s a measure of how much Exit Advisory Group supports business owners, well beyond any single transaction.
Testimonials
What our clients say
Simon Bedard and the Exit Advisory Group team did a brilliant job assisting me in the sale of my consulting business. I couldn't be happier with the result, delivered through their depth of understanding, and complete professionalism throughout.
Paul Nelson
Founder & MD, Fuller Brand Communications
We worked closely with Mark Levitt, a Principal Adviser at Exit Advisory Group. He was fantastic and really took the time to understand our business. We couldn't have done it without him. Exit Advisory Group has an efficient process and was able to put our business in front of very targeted strategic acquirers. Their team provided an extremely professional approach and genuine care for their clients. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to exit their business.
Samantha Lamond
CEO, Energy360
Exit Advisory Group are true professionals when it comes to guiding people on how to get ready for a business sale. Their advice and support were instrumental throughout the different stages of our business journey. From our business valuation to exit, we felt we were in very capable hands. We will definitely use them again for our next business venture.
Emily Heeley
Business owner
Accreditations & awards
Valuations prepared in accordance with the International Valuation Standards (IVS).
As featured in
Questions owners ask about Exit Advisory Group
Straight answers about who we are, where we are, and how we work.
Where is Exit Advisory Group based?
We have two offices: Barangaroo, Sydney (Level 24, Three International Towers, 300 Barangaroo Avenue) and Melbourne (Level 30, Collins Place, 35 Collins Street). We work with business owners across Australia.
Who owns Exit Advisory Group?
Exit Advisory Group is founder-led and privately owned. It was founded by Simon Bedard, the Managing Director, with co-founder Shanti Bedard.
How does Exit Advisory Group charge?
Exit Advisory Group does not publish fixed prices. Every engagement is scoped to your business, so fees are agreed privately in an initial, no-obligation conversation, and you'll know exactly what's involved before you commit.
What does VALUE360™ measure?
VALUE360™ scores a business across the five dimensions a buyer examines in due diligence: Financial Performance, Growth System, Fulfilment System, People & Leadership, and Operating System.
What was the HHMC merger?
Exit Advisory Group and HHMC Global merged to bring specialist recruitment, staffing and offshoring M&A onto a broader platform. HHMC's advisory work continues, with founder Rod Hore and Richard Hayward still directly involved. The combined team operates under the Exit Advisory Group name, bringing together HHMC's 25 years of deep sector expertise and established industry relationships with the firm's transaction capability, systems and processes.
How long has Simon Bedard been advising on exits?
Simon Bedard has over 25 years of experience in finance, investment and advisory. He is National Chair of the AIBB and a Registered Business Valuer, hosts the Buy Grow Sell podcast, and wrote Exit Like an Expert.
Have a confidential conversation about your exit
A 30-minute call with a senior adviser. No fee, no obligation, no pressure. Just an honest read on where you are and what the right next step looks like.