If you’re considering hiring a middle market investment bank to either buy or sell a business, it’s important to check the firm out carefully. Successful transactions don’t just happen. To obtain the best result, transactions have to be managed carefully by seasoned professionals.

Middle market investment banks should have both domestic and international reach. That’s important for both buy and sell side transactions in M&A. On the buy side, one shouldn’t miss the chance to view every possible target in the defined geography. On the seller's side, it’s important that the seller not miss another possible buyer, who might have offered better terms and more consideration, just because they’re outside of the territory that is most familiar to a particular firm. In other words, one should hire a firm that can truly cover the world. There are always opportunities if one knows how to find them.

It’s also important for middle-market investment banks to have the ability to create excellent documentation. Those documents will be the first thing that the potential target or buyer will see about your company. As they say, “first impressions count.” If you take a moment to examine the documents that the prospective investment bank sent you, it’s a giant clue as to how they present their clients.

Another important element to check is the firm’s ability to structure and negotiate difficult transactions. The best way to ferret out this information is to ask about a complex transaction. Another way is to look at the firm’s “tombstones.” Are they all transactions between well-known buyers and sellers or are some of them cross-border and between companies that aren’t so obvious?

Staffing on any advisory engagement is important. How long have the principals of the firm been employed by that particular middle-market investment bank? What is their experience level? What are the chances that they will leave the firm mid-transaction? There have been many cases of clients being impressed with the individual handling their project, only to find that they took a better position across town. And, understandably, the transaction stays with the firm, not the individual. As we say, buyer beware.

To summarize, check out your middle market investment bank's experience level, years in business, credentials of the staff and ability to present well.

A little due diligence goes a long way to ensuring a successful transaction.

Speak Confidentially with Versailles Group

Versailles Group provides clients with both buy-side and sell-side M&A services and has been completing cross-border transactions since its founding in 1987.

If you are considering selling or acquiring a company, we welcome the opportunity to discuss your objectives and offer a clear perspective on your options.

Request a Session >>

As you will see from the chart below, worldwide, middle market M&A activity has been steady for the last three years despite numerous worldwide economic ups and downs.

Given the improving economic climate and the strong fundamentals supporting M&A, we believe that M&A transactions will increase in 2014.

When hiring a boutique investment bank, it’s important to focus on three main areas:

How long has the firm been in business?

Often times, many boutique investment banks are in existence because the founder or founders are between positions at larger firms. Therefore, if the firm you are considering has been in business for less than five years, it begs the important question: Is this a part-time occupation or a serious business? Most sellers only have one company to sell, so it’s important that the advisor be serious and not in between lucrative positions. If the firm that you are considering has been in business for more than 10 or 20 years, you’re probably safe.

Who will work on the proposed transaction?

The staffing for the engagement is important. How much M&A experience do they have? How long have they been with the firm? Are they likely to leave the firm in the middle of your transaction? Experience is important as M&A transactions are never mundane. There are always twists and turns from all of the parties involved. A successful M&A transaction occurs when a series of challenges are solved fast enough to keep both buyer and seller engaged.

What are the capabilities of the boutique investment bank?

What types of deals has the firm completed to date? Do they have international capabilities, not necessarily international offices? In other words, have they completed cross-border transactions? Many firms claim to have that capability, but it’s limited to completing transactions to or from their home country. True cross border capabilities include the ability to complete transactions completely outside the firm’s home country. International capabilities are more important now than ever before. The world has gotten smaller and it’s expensive to miss opportunities just because they’re outside of your geography.

photo credit: kenteegardin

Many buyers or sellers wonder if they need a boutique investment bank versus a large full service firm. If what you need is a successful M&A transaction, you’re typically better off with a firm that derives all or most of its revenue from M&A. That means you’ll receive the best and most attention.

Typically, boutique firms are more nimble and able to react faster than larger full service firms. Therefore, they’re much better at completing middle market transactions where the number of buyers or targets is quite large. Boutiques are adept at operating in this environment. Boutiques are also good at giving the entrepreneur or corporate client that hasn’t completed a number of transactions the necessary advice to “walk” them through a complex maze of finding the right buyer or seller, presenting the transaction, helping guide due diligence, structuring a transaction that will be mutually agreeable, and negotiating a Definitive Agreement. All of these steps involve lots of intricacies that need to be managed efficiently and effectively. To conclude, for most middle market transactions a boutique investment bank will probably provide the highest level of service and the best possible outcome for either a buy or sell side assignment.

Selecting a middle-market investment bank can influence buyer reach, valuation strategy, confidentiality, negotiating leverage, and the likelihood of closing. For many owners, especially founders and first-time sellers, the challenge is knowing how to evaluate an advisor before the engagement begins. Reputation and relationships matter, but execution matters more. A capable M&A advisor brings senior-level judgment, transaction experience, project management, and the ability to identify and engage parties most likely to create value.

Before hiring a middle-market investment bank, business owners should consider the following five questions.

Question 1: Who will actually work on my transaction?

In M&A advisory, the team that wins the engagement is sometimes different from the team that manages the assignment day to day. Owners need clarity on who will lead the mandate, prepare the materials, contact buyers or targets, manage negotiations, and communicate with the client throughout the engagement.

That clarity matters because middle-market transactions require judgment at every stage. A sale or acquisition involves positioning the company, anticipating buyer concerns, preparing management for difficult questions, and deciding when to press, pause, or adjust the strategy. Those decisions are shaped by experience, not by process alone.

For sellers, senior-level attention is especially important during buyer outreach, management presentations, letter of intent negotiations, due diligence, and closing. For buyers, it is critical during target identification, owner outreach, valuation analysis, and transaction structuring.

The answer should be specific. A business owner should understand the senior banker’s role, the responsibilities of each team member, and the firm’s expected communication rhythm from launch through closing. Vague assurances about “team support” provide little comfort when a transaction becomes complex.

Question 2: How much M&A experience does the firm have?

Experience in M&A should be measured by more than familiarity with a single industry. Business owners should ask how long the firm has advised on M&A. They should also understand the range of transaction types the firm has handled.

This depth matters because middle-market transactions often involve issues that reach beyond industry knowledge. A successful advisor must know how to prepare a company for market, identify credible counterparties, protect confidentiality, manage buyer or target outreach, negotiate letters of intent, respond to diligence pressure, and help move a transaction toward closing.

A firm with broad M&A experience can draw on patterns seen across many assignments. It may recognize how buyers evaluate risk, where negotiations tend to become difficult, how valuation expectations shift, and which deal terms can materially affect the outcome. That judgment is developed through repeated transaction experience, not through research alone.

The most useful answer will be specific. A qualified middle-market investment bank should be able to describe its history, transaction breadth, senior-level involvement, and ability to manage the practical demands of an M&A process from preparation through closing.

Question 3: How will you identify and approach buyers or targets?

The quality of the buyer or target universe often shapes the quality of the outcome. For a seller, the investment bank should explain how it will identify strategic acquirers, private equity firms, family offices, international buyers, and other qualified parties. The market map should include obvious candidates as well as less visible parties with strategic reasons to pursue the company. These may include industry adjacencies, consolidators, suppliers, customers, foreign acquirers, or companies seeking access to a new geography, product line, customer base, or technical capability.

For a buyer, the advisor’s role shifts toward target identification and discreet owner outreach. Many attractive middle-market companies are privately held and are not actively for sale. Effective outreach requires research, credibility, persistence, and judgment. 

In both cases, the firm’s outreach strategy deserves close review. The client should understand who will be contacted, how sensitive information will be protected, how interest will be tracked, and how the advisor will distinguish serious parties from casual inquiries.

A strong M&A effort balances coverage with discretion. Contacting a large number of parties without a thoughtful strategy can create noise and increase confidentiality risk. The objective is targeted coverage: reaching the most relevant parties while maintaining control of the engagement.

Question 4: How do you protect confidentiality during the process?

Confidentiality is one of the most important issues in middle-market M&A, particularly for sellers. Employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, and lenders may react poorly if they learn too early that a company is exploring a sale or strategic alternative. A leak can disrupt operations, weaken negotiating leverage, and create avoidable concern inside and outside the business.

A qualified investment bank needs a clear system for protecting sensitive information. That system may include blind teasers, staged disclosure, non-disclosure agreements, controlled access to confidential materials, buyer screening, and careful sequencing of outreach.

The advisor’s approach to direct competitors, strategic buyers, and other sensitive parties is important. In some cases, certain buyers may need to be excluded from the outreach universe or approached only after additional protections are in place. The advisor must generate market interest while limiting unnecessary disclosure.

Important questions include:

1. What information will be included in the initial teaser?

2. When will the company’s name be disclosed?

3. Who approves the buyer list before outreach begins?

4. How are competitors handled?

5. How is confidential information controlled during diligence?

An advisor who treats confidentiality casually may expose the company to unnecessary risk.

Question 5: How do you manage valuation, negotiation, and closing risk?

A transaction succeeds when the process produces credible offers, preserves leverage, survives diligence, and closes on acceptable terms.

Business owners should examine how the investment bank manages valuation, negotiation, due diligence, and closing risk. The advisor’s answer should address how the firm will position the company’s financial performance, growth opportunities, customer relationships, management team, and strategic value. It should also show a working knowledge of how buyers evaluate EBITDA, working capital, addbacks, capital expenditures, customer concentration, and future growth assumptions.

In a sell-side process, the advisor’s role is to create a competitive environment and maintain leverage through each stage of the transaction. That requires careful timing, disciplined communication, and a clear understanding of buyer behavior. A good advisor knows how to compare offers beyond headline price, including structure, escrow, earnout terms, financing risk, closing certainty, indemnification, and post-closing obligations.

In a buy-side assignment, the advisor helps the client assess value, understand risk, and structure a transaction that supports the buyer’s strategic and financial objectives.

Business owners should also ask about regulatory structure where securities activities are involved. The advisor should be able to explain whether securities are offered through a FINRA-registered broker-dealer and whether the relevant professionals are properly licensed for the work being performed.

No reputable advisor can guarantee a specific valuation or closing outcome. The stronger answer is a clear explanation of positioning, negotiation strategy, diligence preparation, and closing discipline.

Choosing the Right Middle-Market Investment Bank

When considering hiring a middle-market investment bank, business owners must conduct a thorough evaluation. Key factors to assess include the qualifications and experience of the lead advisor, the strategy for developing the buyer or target universe, the measures in place to safeguard confidentiality, and the firm’s approach to managing valuation, negotiation, and execution risks.

A capable M&A advisor can answer those questions directly and explain the reasoning behind its approach. The conversation should give the owner confidence that the firm can manage both the strategic and practical demands of the transaction.

Speak Confidentially with Versailles Group

Versailles Group provides clients with both buy-side and sell-side M&A services and has been completing cross-border transactions since its founding in 1987.

If you are considering selling or acquiring a company, we welcome the opportunity to discuss your objectives and offer a clear perspective on your options.

Request a Session >>

Middle market investment banking provides some unique challenges for both buyer and seller.

Most importantly, the number of buyers or sellers available to do a transaction, relative to the very large deals that dominate the headlines, is huge. Many people underestimate how many possible targets or buyers there are to complete their transaction. It’s one of the reasons why an M&A advisor is even more important for a middle market transaction.

Another major distinction of middle market investment banking is that most of the entrepreneurs have never purchased or sold a business before. For many of these individuals, pursuing a transaction may be difficult to understand. M&A can be a complex maze. For example, it’s important how and when certain information is released, when and what type of Non-Disclosure Agreement is used, and how to structure a transaction that is fair to both parties.

The value of a middle market investment banking transaction is always a hot topic among both buyer and seller. Many entrepreneurs have devoted themselves to building their business so they’re not familiar with terms like EBITDA or multiples. There are many stories about this misunderstanding, for example, one entrepreneur was telling everyone that the EBITDA multiple was dictated by the company’s zip code. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this poignant comment is a clue that M&A is a highly specialized field. Another entrepreneur noted that they wanted to sell their business for x million based on his retirement needs, the necessity of paying for their grandchildren’s college educations, etc. Those were all admirable goals, but had nothing to do with the value of the business.

Negotiating a transaction is an art, not a science. To be successful, both parties, on either side of a transaction, need to focus on win-win negotiating. That usually produces the best outcome for both parties. As most middle market business owners do not have significant M&A negotiating experience, there are frequently many transactions that fail. Most of them could have had a positive outcome, but the parties did not find a solution fast enough to keep the transaction moving forward.

To summarize, middle market investment banking is different than very large company investment banking. First of all, most of the time, it’s the individuals’ own money that is at stake. Large companies have millions of shareholders and a mistake on an M&A transaction won’t carry the consequences of a bad transaction for an individual. In most cases, the success of a middle market transaction could be insured by engaging professional investment bankers who know how to navigate the complex M&A maze, can guide the negotiations, and have the requisite experience to structure a mutually acceptable transaction.

We are halfway through the fourth quarter, and M&A activity looks fairly normal for this time of year. Typically, there is a huge surge of transactions that are announced or closed in December of each year. Many times, there are tax considerations that are driving a closing before year-end. In other cases, buyers and sellers have other objectives that they want or need to fulfill before year-end.

I founded Versailles Group in 1987 to assist middle-market and lower-middle-market entrepreneurs and corporations in closing the very best M&A transactions possible. Years ago, that was a concept. Today, it’s a reality. We’ve helped individuals and companies on five continents. In many cases, we’ve done multiple transactions for the same individuals or companies. The results reflect our passion for completing exceptional transactions.

The key to successful M&A is to begin exploring how a transaction might help fulfill your goals sooner rather than later so that there’s time to do it efficiently and effectively. Corporates typically pursue acquisitions or divestitures in the normal course of business and are well-acquainted with the process and possible outcomes. On the other hand, most entrepreneurs only do one or two transactions in their lifetime. For both corporates and entrepreneurs, it’s important that transactions be done well. That’s our forte!

November is an excellent time to consider your 2014 M&A goals. M&A is a very effective means of divesting an unprofitable business or divesting a business in order to diversify your portfolio. Many people wait too long before selling and find that the extra years of ownership didn’t add any value. On the buy-side, an acquisition can provide a route to new markets, provide additional product offerings, help diversify, etc.

In the third quarter, M&A activity in the US and Canada increased dramatically, exceeding both 2012 and 2011 activity levels. Europe has also seen a resurgence of M&A activity despite some very difficult economic conditions. M&A activity is also up in Asia / Pacific, Africa / Middle East and in Latin America; however, Latin America hasn’t seen as much of an increase as the other geographies.

The question that this raises is why is M&A activity increasing? There are many reasons for this, including strong fundamentals, e.g., cheap and available capital, but also the simple fact that companies find M&A to be a very attractive way to build or defend shareholder value. Clearly, it’s faster and more advantageous for a company to acquire another business, people, products, equipment, customers, etc. than to build it from scratch. That’s an opportunity for both buyer and seller.

The fourth quarter is an excellent time to begin exploring the acquisition or divestiture of a business to build or protect shareholder wealth in the coming year. I founded Versailles Group almost 27 years ago as I’m passionate about helping management and/or owners grow or divest their businesses to enhance shareholder wealth.

Year-to-date, M&A activity has been robust, as reflected in the chart below. Despite a modest start to the year, the value of M&A transactions is up, over the same time period last year, in all regions except for Asia Pacific.

Low interest rates, willing lenders, buyers with large cash balances, and other strong fundamentals are contributing to M&A activity around the world. And, it appears that deal multiples are increasing due to competition between private equity firms and strategic buyers. One of the strategies of both of these types of buyers is to enhance shareholders’ wealth via the acquisition of companies.

There are two questions that every business owner or CEO should ask, at least annually: when should we acquire a company and when should we sell either all or part of the company. The answer is not always straightforward, but the question is worthy of significant attention. With over 30 years of M&A experience, I have personally seen many businesses miss valuable opportunities by hesitating to consider a transaction.

Over the last six months, global M&A activity has steadily increased as the US and other economies have continued to rebound. This increased activity spiked in July as buyers and sellers have moved quickly to close transactions.

Shrewd owners, managers, and companies are seizing opportunities at a rapid rate. Cheap financing is still widely available; however, not all buyers are using credit facilities. Warren Buffet’s team have concluded over 12 middle market transactions in the first six months of 2013. These were not billion dollar mega-deals; they were smaller transactions concluded to fulfill particular strategies.

In this environment, every business owner or manager should be considering their options for buying or selling. Growth via acquisition can be productive whether it is offensive or defensive. Selling can be useful to shed divisions or subsidiaries that are either unwanted or underperforming. Owners should also consider selling the entire business for a variety of strategic, tax, and other reasons.