Middle Market M&A Experts

Featured Experts

John Lawson

CFP, CEPA and CIM

John has three designations: CFP, CEPA and CIM. An entrepreneur at heart, John ventured into the business world by owning, building and managing a variety of different companies. Learning about the complexities of entrepreneurship has helped John excel as a Senior Wealth Advisor in British Columbia for more than 20 years. John currently leads a team that helps families in business and high net-worth clients bring their future into focus through strategic wealth planning.

Craig Allsopp

Craig O. Allsopp is an investment banker with Corporate Finance Associates, a full-service mergers and acquisitions firm with an office in Portland, ME and 20 other cities around the country. His practice is focused on creating growth and exit strategies for middle market companies in New England.

Darrell Arne

Darrell Arne is the President of Arne & Co., which he founded in 1994 began specializing in business valuations and mergers acquisitions. He is a nationally and internationally known seminar developer and speaker on various merger acquisition topics that includes succession planning, merger acquisition tax strategies and deal structures, and maximizing business value.

Q&As

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“How Do Private Equity Firms Differentiate Themselves?”

Look 10 years ago operating partners, not in the payroll, but off the payroll, maybe on portfolio company payroll, was the trend. That was the differentiator. That was very commonplace but really...

Answered by: Heather Madland

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“Does M&A Tech Disintermediate Investment Bankers?”

100%. It's a case where that perception could be altered a little bit. Take the deal marketing example you mentioned. Oftentimes the investment bankers are struggling to gather information and...

Answered by: Ben Collins
Director of Product Marketing and Strategy

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“Embracing Tech in M&A Transactions: Why the Hesitation?”

I think one of the hesitations may be any change to existing, or more traditional, processes. There's general trepidation amongst M&A practitioners to fix something that they don't...

Answered by: Ben Collins
Director of Product Marketing and Strategy

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“What can M&A professionals do to better leverage technology?”

I think it's two things. So, you’ve got the sale-side and the buy-side. Two sides of the same coin with the M&A process. On the sale-side, we’re seeing a lot of bankers looking...

Answered by: Ben Collins
Director of Product Marketing and Strategy

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“Where has technology really improved the M&A process?”

It’s hard to pick just one area, but I think, first and foremost, it comes down to speed, so in this environment — which remains competitive for attractive assets — it’s...

Answered by: Ben Collins
Director of Product Marketing and Strategy

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“What are the current challenges concerning valuation uncertainty?”

Note: This content originally appeared in T/A Economics and has been published here with permission.The International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) provided insight in how to deal with valuation...

Answered by: Kenny Van Tulder
Senior Manager

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“What are the best methods to find buyers for a business?”

I am of the opinion that in order to maximize value in the sale of a mid-market business, a widely-marketed sale process should be conducted. This means getting a no-names teaser to as many qualified...

Answered by: John Carvalho
President, Divestopedia Inc.

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“When is the best time of year to sell a business?”

There are plenty of articles answering the question: how long does it take to sell a business? The typical response is that it takes about 8 to 12 months to appropriately prepare, plan and execute...

Answered by: John Carvalho
President, Divestopedia Inc.

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“What should I look for with non-cash consideration?”

Receiving consideration other than cash is not uncommon. In fact, it is very rare that vendors receive all cash for their business. Different forms of non-cash consideration include a seller's note,...

Answered by: John Carvalho
President, Divestopedia Inc.

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“What's the difference between growth capex, maintenance capex and internally financed capex?”

There are generally two reasons companies spend money on capital expenditures (capex): to grow the business, and to maintain the business. Once a company determines it needs to make a capex...

Answered by: Brandon Hinkle

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“What are typical fee structures for portfolio companies by private equity groups?”

A private equity group has a lot of flexibility typically in how they collect fees or harvest value from a company in which they are invested. The form and structure of what those economics looks...

Answered by: James Darnell

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“Which attributes do private equity groups find attractive in a business?”

Private equity groups have a broad range of interests based on their investment strategy and the mandates they have been given by their investors of which types of businesses to invest in. These...

Answered by: James Darnell

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“What are some of the key differences between a financial buyer and strategic buyer?”

The key difference between a strategic buyer and a financial buyer is that a strategic buyer is typically going to be buying all of your company. There are a couple of differences once this happens...

Answered by: James Darnell

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“What tools do private equity firms use to create value?”

There aren't many proprietary tools that private equity groups can use to create value. Business management, sales, and marketing strategy have been well researched and published in which the best...

Answered by: James Darnell

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“What should a business owner expect from private equity due diligence?”

When the entrepreneur has decided to work with the private equity group, and they enter into a contract to close the deal, it will have to undergo a due diligence process that can be quite intensive...

Answered by: James Darnell

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“What should a business owner expect after being acquired by a private equity firm?”

That’s a good question. A business owner, upon entering into a relationship with a private equity group, is going to experience a range of things because they are really entering into a new business...

Answered by: James Darnell

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“What should a CEO consider when negotiating with private equity groups?”

There are probably too many things to list that are really important for a business owner to understand about their agreements and documents with a private equity group. It is very important for the...

Answered by: James Darnell

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“What is the single best thing I can do to sell my business at a premium?”

I’ll break it into two broad categories and I’ll give the underlying assumption. The underlying assumption is that at some point, all deals will come down to certain metrics. In the world that we...

Answered by: Kenneth H. Marks

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“What are important legal issues to consider in a Letter of Intent?”

Price and terms get locked down in an LOI, but they tend to get locked down on a "to be confirmed" by the due diligence phases. So if I’m on the buy side and I get some unexpected due diligence...

Answered by: Andrew J. Sherman

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“What corporate governance changes can drive shareholder value?”

To set the context of my answer, many lower mid-market companies have a Board of Directors, but the board is made up of someone's mother and brother who have never done anything except vote in his...

Answered by: Andrew J. Sherman

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