In mid-2026, 57% of the dealmakers Axial surveyed named valuation expectations as the top reason deals died, double the year before. The gap is usually there before the first offer. Here is where an owner’s number and a buyer’s number split, and four ways to test yours first.
A buyer you have never heard of sends an offer. In what we see, the price is often low and the structure favors the buyer. Here is how a sale process creates competing offers, what the data says and where it stops, and five questions to settle before you answer one.
A signed LOI feels like the finish line. Axial’s data on 75 deals that died after the LOI puts diligence findings behind nearly half of them. Here are the five places a buyer tests your price, and how to find the weak spots before they do.
Private equity isn’t the only buyer anymore. Competitors, first-time owners with SBA loans, search funds and family offices all buy businesses, and each one checks different things. Here is what to expect from each.
A $2 million offer with 90% cash at closing is not the same deal as a $2 million offer with 60%. Escrow, seller financing and earnouts all change what you actually collect, and when. Here’s what to ask before you compare two offers.
Nearly half of lower-middle-market buyers say they will stretch on price for the right business. Four in ten say they cannot find one. That gap is where your price is won or lost — and it turns on four things a buyer can verify before closing, none of which is your industry. Here is what they check.
Some purchase agreements let the buyer move your price at closing, based on the cash, receivables and inventory left in the business. Many smaller sales have no such clause at all. Here is how to tell which kind of deal you are in, and what to settle before you sign.
Earnouts now show up in roughly 1 in 3 lower-middle-market sales. Across deals that include one, sellers collect only about 20 cents on the dollar of what was promised. Here’s what drives that gap — and the five terms worth negotiating before you sign.
Private equity is sitting on 13,325 US companies it already owns, and more than a quarter have been held for seven years or longer. That backlog shapes your deal more than the multiple does. Here is how to read where a buyer’s fund sits in its own ten-year clock — and the five questions that surface it before you sign.
Since October 1, 2026, the SBA underwrites business acquisitions differently. The coverage floor is 1.25x, projections no longer count toward it, and deals at $3 million and above need a Quality of Earnings report. Here is what it costs a seller — and which buyer it quietly favors.
