The second generation was ready to retire, but the third still had gas in the tank.

[02:42]

"It was a nine-figure transaction with a family company. Um, it was owned by it was first started by uh by a grandfather. It went down to the second and third generation. The second generation, they were ready to retire. The third generation said, "You know what? I still have more, you know, gas in the tank."

[01:30]

"You have 60% of the businesses, 60% of the small businesses actually that are um owned by baby boomers. So, it's primed for retirement. You also have a lot of dry powder out there and companies that are being held within private equity holdings for the longest time period ever, 8 and a half years."

[01:15]

"So, I can tell you right now that year-over-year when you look at January 2025 over January 2024, it actually decreased 30% in terms of the number of deals that were done from an M&A pers perspective. However, the market is poised for great transactions."

Full transcript

At year-over-year when you look at January 2025 over January 2024, it actually decreased 30% in terms of the number of deals that were done from an M&A perspective. However, the market is poised for great transactions. We are an investment bank and also management consulting firm. We also have business brokering capabilities. We focus primarily on mergers and acquisitions both sell side and buy side but we also do a few capital raises here and there.

Um when we focus on uh working with companies we focus on technology and innovation primarily and then also within professional services as well. Just you know my background a little bit. Um I worked with started my career with Accenture. Uh went to work for Countrywide Financial for a little while. Um ended up experiencing my first M&A transaction when we got bought up by Bank of America.

Went to work for Bank of America for a few years with transactions. Uh went to go then work for Deote Consulting and then went to go work for uh Grant Thornton before starting this about 7 and a half years ago. So um that's pretty much a little bit of our background. As you do M&A, what are some of the M&A trends that you see today?

Oh jeez, everybody's waiting for the economy to really um stabilize a little bit. So, I can tell you right now that year-over-year when you look at January 2025 over January 2024, it actually decreased 30% in terms of the number of deals that were done from an M&A pers perspective. However, the market is poised for great transactions. You have 60% of the businesses, 60% of the small businesses actually that are um owned by baby boomers.

So, it's primed for retirement. You also have a lot of dry powder out there and companies that are being held within private equity holdings for the longest time period ever, 8 and a half years. But I really I don't know if we'll see any really growth until probably Q3. But I do think that Q1 and Q2 are um right now we're waiting for the economy to stabilize a little bit.

And we have I mean if you look around too, we have about five different strikes are planned for the next month, right? You have Target, you have Nestle, you have Walmart. Um there are quite a few and then there's consumer days where people are just thinking about not spending at all. So there's boycots completely for a couple of those days out there too.

So I mean there's going to be a little bit of a rocky road for consumer goods especially when we think about tariffs as well. When you think of family offices, do you look at it from a deal source standpoint where a lot of the, you know, some families may have created great businesses that uh there may be a secession issue or maybe they just want some liquidity or do you also look at at it from a buyer standpoint that you have deals to show them? Oh, I love it from both standpoints actually. Um, we just did a large transaction.

It was a nine-figure transaction with a family company. Um, it was owned by it was first started by uh by a grandfather. It went down to the second and third generation. The second generation, they were ready to retire. The third generation said, "You know what? I still have more, you know, gas in the tank.

I want to keep it going." And they couldn't agree on whether or not they wanted to sell. We helped them work through the idea of selling and then eventually we were able to have a really good transaction. And by the way, this all happened in a six-month period. Wow, that's fast. That's great.

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