In 2012 we published our book on mergers and acquisitions ….it is called “Middle Market M&A: Handbook of Investment Banking & Business Consulting“. One of the topics we address is financing acquisitions and various ways to thinking about getting deals done. In the middle market, funding strategic deals is often a mix of senior debt coupled with mezzanine and some type of seller financing (i.e. seller note or earn-out). If your company, as the buyer, is a lower middle market business itself; a key to being credible in the negotiating process is having evidence of financing before you enter discussions. This essentially means building an acquisition strategy and plan, then obtaining buy-in from lenders and investors before going to market. An advantage of this approach is having the experience and support of your financing sources early-on and in due-diligence. Overall this helps improve the likelihood of a successful transaction.
