Business owners who have identified the one party—or handful of likely parties—on the other side of the table often understand they need assistance beyond what their other advisors will provide, but wonder what an M&A advisor will do to add value We’re able to attune our offering to the one-off or targeted transaction because it is our primary focus, not one we default into. We are able to charge less than traditional investment banks because we are not required to utilize and pay for the platform required to execute on full-out auctions.
Private business buyers and advisors continue to say that as corporate performance and macro-economic conditions clarify, they see a swelling pipeline of businesses to be offered for sale. Certainly, Greenberg Variations Capital has never had more clients ready to enter or re-enter the market.
Many deals will get done. However, a number of developments this summer cause me to worry that we are still overweighting the desire of sellers and buyers to transact and underweighting the systemic challenges that caused deal volume to slow in the first place.
These recent developments include not just the jousting over tariffs and interest rates, but federal interventions in support of some industries (e.g., steel, semi-conductors) and against others (e.g., electric vehicles, wind-based energy).
[Read More]
When Charlie Gifford and I are prepping guests for our Middle Market Musings podcast, we often ask if they have an “origin story”—a family connection or early experience that set them on a business path. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
The first story about business I ever heard—was ever aware of—involved my successful grandfather and even more successful uncle.
Joe Cherry and Al Levis were brothers-in-law and business partners. In the 1940s, the Cherry-Levis Food Company developed a dried meat stick product. My grandfather Joe and uncle Al had a fractious relationship. They parted ways about 1950. Joe did fine, continuing on his own in the food business. The dried meat product evolved into the well-known Slim Jim.
[Read More]