Insights

For most lower middle market owners, preparation matters more than timing. Here’s how tariffs and interest rates are actually affecting valuations in 2026.

Millions of businesses will change hands over the next decade. The standard warning says buyers will run out. Twenty-plus years of deal experience say something different is actually scarce.

A transaction doesn’t have to mean the end of the road. For many business owners, it’s a tool for growth, liquidity, or succession planning — not just an exit.

The platform acquisition cycle may be returning. CEPAs who understand what’s driving it — and who help clients prepare early — will create more options and better outcomes when transition opportunities emerge.

Jaclyn Ring and Todd Torquato receive the M&A Source Platinum Club Award in Minneapolis — as Ring presides over the 2026 Spring Conference in her role as Chair of the M&A Source Board of Governors.

The headlines are loud. The market signal underneath them is clear. Here’s what confident lower middle market dealmakers are doing differently right now.