New York has more M&A firms per square mile than anywhere in the country, and most of them are not competing for a lower middle market private seller. The task is filtering, and the filter is minimum fee and closed transactions rather than reputation.
Get quotes to sell my business
Filter on the minimum fee first
Firms in the city state minimum fees rather than minimum revenues, and those minimums vary by an order of magnitude. If the minimum is a large share of your likely price, the firm is not in your market whatever they say in the meeting. Ask at the first contact and ask in writing.
Then on closed transactions like yours
A firm doing large corporate transactions has no buyer list for a regional distributor or a services business, and the team assigned to your file will be the most junior in the building. Ask where your business would sit in their current mandates by size and who by name would run it.
When to look outside the city
If your buyers are regional operators or sector platforms elsewhere, a specialist firm in that sector, wherever it sits, will reach them better than a generalist nearby. Proximity is convenient; the buyer list is what sets the price.
Questions people ask about M&A firms nyc
Is a New York firm better connected?
To large corporate and financial buyers, often. To the regional acquirers who buy most lower middle market businesses, not necessarily.
What minimum fee should I expect?
It varies enormously by firm. That is precisely why it is the first question to ask.
Should I meet a large firm anyway?
One meeting is useful to hear how a formal process is run, and to get their minimum in writing to compare against smaller firms.
Do New York firms charge more?
Their minimum fees tend to be higher, which is a function of their cost base rather than of the service. The success fee scales are broadly conventional, so the minimum is where the difference shows up on a smaller sale.