Record-breaking M&A activity by entrepreneur Feisal Nahaboo leads to lucrative equity sale

Earlier this week, a lucrative equity sale made possible thanks to a revolutionary new type of merger (M&A) model made national headlines. This, however, did not come from the fast-paced tech sector as one might expect but, instead, the accountancy world, which is not typically associated with ground-breaking financial models.  

As Timothy Arden reports, the new ‘Overnight Multiple Merger Model’ (OMMM) is taking the business world by storm, delivering staggering growth in a fraction of the time other merger models take. What’s more, it is dramatically improving service offerings for customers.

Its creator, multimillionaire financial entrepreneur Feisal Nahaboo, is now using the OMMM model to build what is dubbed the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’, promising to transform the face of healthcare across Britain and Ireland with a world-leading medical system that will place preventative care and wellbeing at the heart of every community.

By Timothy Arden

At the close of January 2022, The Irish Sunday Times reported that the 120-strong accountancy firm consolidation, Xeinadin Group, is poised to benefit from the sale of a large equity stake in its advisory group to private equity firm Exponent.

This is a highly unusual move in the accountancy industry, with its mostly partner-owned business model.

However, this isn't the only unusual aspect to the story. According to the Irish Sunday Times, Xeinadin posted revenues in May 2020 of £110.3million, and earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (asset repayments) of £39.9million, which equates to approximately 36% EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization)—a figure far higher than that typically seen in the sector.

This is all the more impressive when one takes into account the fact that Xeinadin was a new entrant in a highly competitive accountancy market, and yet one demonstrating a growth which takes most firms around 50 to 100 years to achieve.

To one man, however, none of this is a surprise. UK financial entrepreneur Feisal Nahaboo founded Xeinadin in July 2019, using a hitherto unheard of ‘overnight multiple merger’ model that he created. So personally connected did he feel with its success, and legacy, he named the company after his first two children: Zein and Nadine.

This ground-breaking idea involved the simultaneous merger of 122 independent accountancy firms across the UK and Ireland ‘overnight’. It was no cynical financial move, however; rather, it was the product of a disruptive and visionary mind—one well versed in the world of accountancy. And one associated with many disruptive and visionary business practices over the years.

“Having previously managed and advised over 600 accountancy firms, I knew the possibilities for the sector. My vision was simply to bring a diverse range of professional services—accountants, corporate financial specialists, financial services, HR specialists, legal experts and so on—under one roof,” says Nahaboo.

“Clients could receive a full-service, directed and managed from a place they could trust, while accountancy firms could hugely improve profits through a work ethic of upselling and cross-selling.

“It was dubbed a ‘corporate miracle’ at the time, yet to me it seemed an obvious move. It just required a brave leader to design the concept, build the strategy and create a detailed roadmap to prepare all 122 independent accountancy practices to enter the merger at the very same time.”

: Entrepreneur Feisal Nahaboo founded accountancy group Xeinadin in 2019, using his own overnight multiple merger model. This set a world record, being the largest multiple simultaneous merger in history.: Entrepreneur Feisal Nahaboo founded accountancy group Xeinadin in 2019, using his own overnight multiple merger model. This set a world record, being the largest multiple simultaneous merger in history.
: Entrepreneur Feisal Nahaboo founded accountancy group Xeinadin in 2019, using his own overnight multiple merger model. This set a world record, being the largest multiple simultaneous merger in history.

To turn this ambitious goal into reality, Nahaboo personally headhunted 122 high-performing accountancy practices according to their profit, location, jurisdiction and specialisms, winning over the habitually cautious accountants with his clear business strategy and enticing vision.

The innovation, so enthusiastically received by all, was to cross-fertilise specialisms internally to drive more revenue streams within the group.

Says Nahaboo: “I built Xeinadin with zero debt, moved all 122 firms into 122 new companies with new balance sheets, attaining sign-off from various accountancy institutes to pass Xeinadin as a chartered accountancy practice.

“There were over 200 equity directors who embraced my vision. I scaled and leveraged my work to acquire all 122 accountancy practices, and then best prepare them to enter simultaneously, on the stroke of midnight on 1st June 2019.

“This is something the world thought impossible. However, since the equity directors had full faith in my vision, it was soon evident we could make it a reality.”

Of course, all of this came with an enormous workload for Nahaboo and his team of two administrators and a graphic designer, based at his home in Berkshire.

What took competing firms decades to achieve took just 256 working days with Xeinadin.

However, it was also the birth of an entirely new M&A (merger and acquisition) model, dubbed the ‘Overnight Multiple Merger Model’ (OMMM) by Nahaboo—one which he is now using to roll-out paradigm-changing companies in other industries ripe for disruption.

“The model is completely replicable,” says Nahaboo. “With all the learnings I’ve acquired, I’ve honed the OMMM model to become a streamlined process which may even lead to further record-breaking consolidations happening sooner than the 256 days it took to fully build Xeinadin.”

While the Overnight Multiple Merger Model is, in effect, an industry secret, its unique characteristic lies in the speed at which Nahaboo is able to operate.

“With the OMMM, we are merging a significant number of highly successful and profitable companies into one group at low cost and in record time,” he explains.

“Each OMMM is planned to obtain major market share on consolidation. It offers a low-risk vehicle for high profit after tax (PAT) and the ability to pay shareholders high dividends.”

Feisal Nahaboo says that the OMMM model revolutionises corporate mergers by being able to bring together a significant number of companies into one group “at low cost and in record time”.Feisal Nahaboo says that the OMMM model revolutionises corporate mergers by being able to bring together a significant number of companies into one group “at low cost and in record time”.
Feisal Nahaboo says that the OMMM model revolutionises corporate mergers by being able to bring together a significant number of companies into one group “at low cost and in record time”.

Each OMMM is built with no planned debt, making it more robust and attractive to third-party investment.

Trustworthiness is key. Only very skilled, well-qualified operators are deployed to establish the business, under close scrutiny by industry regulators.

And the model is impossible to replicate without inside knowledge; creating enormous value in its licensing ability and major competitive advantage for those who license the model through Nahaboo’s company, the Overnight Multiple Merger Group (OMMG).

A number of large Private Equity firms have already approached Feisal Nahaboo with regard to forming a joint venture on future OMMMs, as well as investing in those created to date.

For the companies involved, it offers a wide array of exceptional benefits such as economies of scale and cost efficiencies to enhance profits; the pooling of exceptional talent; and the ability, as an ‘industry disruptor’, to innovate and gain greater market share.

Nahaboo sold all his interests in Xeinadin in December 2020, as his burning desire to replicate the success of the pioneering firm became an overriding force, and with regard to one sector in particular: pharmacy.

He says: “Having seen what could be achieved with Xeinadin, I turned my attention to our ailing healthcare sector.

“I realised that an overnight multiple merger of pharmacies could revitalise our over-burdened health services, leading to improved well-being and health for all.”

So gripped was Nahaboo by the belief that a pharmacy consolidation, built on futuristic and disruptive principles, could help transform the healthcare sector that he proceeded at pace to delineate the vision for a ‘Pharmacy of the Future’, named ‘Alitam’—with Nahaboo this time naming the company after his twins, Aliyah and Tamara.

This consists of highly-skilled, yet under-utilised, pharmacists taking on more and more ‘GP-type’ services, while also offering a broad range of clinical and well-being services instore.

In fact, Alitam serves as a spotlight on so many of the benefits of an OMMM.

This merger involved a multi-million pound consolidation of more than 100 stores, and an aspiration to build a FTSE100 company within five years.

To date, a projected £8million of savings will be achieved through streamlining overheads; shared software licenses and regulation costs; insurance savings; creation of own-brand Alitam products; and a cohesive marketing, promotion and recruitment strategy among others.

Alongside the planned savings, Nahaboo plans to acquire 100 additional pharmacy stores over the next two years.

Nahaboo was driven this time by his desire to change society for the better, to “improve the health chances of all our citizens”.

As he reveals, the central role of pharmacies in community-based health care means that the sector is already in an ideal place to transform our nation’s healthcare system from remedial to preventative care, and by so doing making the UK a genuine global trailblazer.

“I want to see us become the first countries in the world to create a preventative healthcare system,” he says.

He continues: “The Covid pandemic has brought into sharp relief just how overstretched secondary healthcare services are. Waiting times are going through the roof, and it’s unacceptable.

“The hard-working people of the UK and Ireland deserve so much better, our dedicated NHS and HSE staff deserve better, and the whole system is due a radical rethink.

“All the time, trusted community pharmacists have been there, helping families for generations. Since the pandemic, they have been rolling out a Covid-19 vaccination campaign at an incredible pace.

“They are highly trained and highly skilled fixtures in their communities. By uniting them under the one banner of Alitam, with a shared vision and determination to serve communities better, we are building a force to be reckoned with.

“As we begin to see politicians and senior health officials questioning the modus operandi, Alitam is there right at the beginning, building a movement for preventative healthcare rather than one predicated on the tired model of reactive treatment.”

Using the OMMM, Feisal Nahaboo has created Alitam, a merger of more than 100 pharmacies across the UK and Ireland that will combine forces to deliver the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’, and build the world’s first truly preventative healthcare system.Using the OMMM, Feisal Nahaboo has created Alitam, a merger of more than 100 pharmacies across the UK and Ireland that will combine forces to deliver the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’, and build the world’s first truly preventative healthcare system.
Using the OMMM, Feisal Nahaboo has created Alitam, a merger of more than 100 pharmacies across the UK and Ireland that will combine forces to deliver the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’, and build the world’s first truly preventative healthcare system.

One of Nahaboo’s key learnings from his Xeinadin experience is the importance of building a board committed to driving his signature ‘futuristic’ vision forward.

He says: “From the outset with Alitam, I began to construct what I call a ‘Super Board’: all executive directors are pioneers in their field—top strategists, entrepreneurs, pharmacists, accountants and lawyers.

“Every single appointee shares the drive to work collectively, as one body with one vision: to become the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’ and a FTSE100 company within five years.”

Nahaboo is understandably proud of his key signing, Sir Ken Olisa (OBE), Lord Lieutenant of London. Sir Ken Olisa is a well-known philanthropist who currently holds a non-executive position on the board of Huawei.

“To get the backing of Sir Ken so early on was a massive vote of confidence,” says Nahaboo. “He began to talk about the ‘industrial logic’ of Alitam, and we were off.”

And, he adds, there are many more overnight multiple mergers in the pipeline: “Any sector which is saturated and ripe for disruption is the perfect home for an OMMM.”

“The care home and professional services sectors are just two of our planned territories for the very near future.”

For now, though, Nahaboo is busy as CEO of Alitam, overseeing an “awe-inspiring” degree of collaboration between members.

New technology is being implemented speedily, and innovations such as in-store screens and robotic dispensing are transforming the day-to-day running of many pharmacies.

“It’s all about freeing up the pharmacists and their team to spend more time caring for each customer,” says Nahaboo.

“When I get the feedback that this is making a real impact on people’s lives I couldn’t be happier.”

And Nahaboo is also about to reveal many of the hitherto unknown secrets behind the overnight multiple merger model in his soon-to-be published business guide, How to build a top 12 company in 256 days.

He says: “In my forthcoming book How to build a top 12 company in 256 days, for the first time I disclose how to strategise and plan a multi-merger concept.

“I then go on to cover in great depth the methodology and best practice required, all of which is garnered from many years’ experience in building disruptive businesses.

“With hard work, diligent planning and enormous determination, it’s possible to recreate the ‘corporate miracle’ of Xeinadin, many times over.

“The OMMM itself is unique and ground-breaking, and the companies it gives rise to are the same. I will continue to improve the model, making sure to appoint only the highest quality board directors and headhunt the most profitable companies, to deliver enormous profits.”

Feisal Nahaboo is a UK-based entrepreneur and business visionary. His book ‘How to build a Top 12 business in 256 days’ is planned to be published in April 2022. For more information on the OMMM model, visit www.ommg.co.uk. For more information about Alitam, visit www.alitamgroup.com. For more information on Feisal Nahaboo, visit www.feisal.co.uk.