Anyone who calls themselves a business person is no doubt familiar with the Morgan Stanleys and Goldman Sachs of the world. However, for businesses in the mid-market a much more expansive and diverse group of banks are available. Firms in the mid-market typically specialize in only one type of business and/or one geographic region.
At mid-market list, we have compiled a filterable database of investment banks, private equity companies and family offices. We compiled this list only after doing our own extensive research on the industry to contact firms we thought would be suitable for our clients.
The institutions that service the mid-market are more specialized in their offering. Many of the services that the bulge bracket banks offer are not needed for lower mid-market companies (prime brokerage, derivative market making, etc.). Instead, these firms have needed to double down on the services that are in highest demand and provide exceptional consulting, capital raising, M&A advisory and public offering services.
Because these mid-market banks have a much lower MD and overall staff count than their larger counterparts, they typically focus on just one industry. We have created articles to address the banks that service the Oil & gas, Construction, Technology & software and Manufacturing industries. Or, look over our complete, filterable list of investment banks.
One of the most common services offered by these investment banks is strategic capital raises. Banks will help their clients raise capital from private equity companies, family offices or other investors to further their growth.
These transactions can be tricky and there are typically a lot of moving pieces. That is why bankers and lawyers are traditionally involved.
Another of the more common services provided by investment banks is M&A advisory. Typically this consists of the bank representing the seller in a business sale. The bankers will consolidate the businesses financials and make a short sales packet that gives an overview of the team and operations that the business conducts.
The bankers will then put the listing in front of qualified buyers. They may know who the main investors in the industry are. Or, they can use a service such as out list of private equity companies to filter down to only show qualified firms.
Once investors in the industry have had an opportunity to evaluate the company, they will present offers to the advisor to be discussed with the selling company
The market for businesses under $25M is generally referred to as the lower mid-market. Because the firms servicing this size of businesses are not typically licensed with FINRA or the SEC, they are referred to as business brokers instead of investment banks. Business brokers roles start and end with representing sellers in M&A transactions.
There are small time business brokers across the country that work with main street businesses, however we have selected the largest and most successful of these business broker teams to joining our network.
If you are a small to mid-sized business (revenues from $1M – $25M) we share the industry overview in our investment banks for small-mid sized businesses article.
