Abstract: This article aims to advance theory and presents evidence on acquisition strategies by determining the optimal conditions when private equity investors execute buy-and-build serial acquisitions. Building on real options and game theory, our theory for buy-and-build provides new insights into the optimal industry conditions (e.g., available acquisition options), company conditions (size, improvability, availability and affordability) and financing conditions (value uncertainty) and the dynamic interactions between these conditions. Consistent with our theory, we empirically confirm that the availability of platform, follow-on, and exit options are related to a higher probability of buy-and-build strategies to occur. We find that targets of these strategies are improvable, sizeable, and available and affordable and that sufficient financial resources and the positive resolution of valuation uncertainty drives the exercise of these acquisition options.