Trends Shaping M&A: ACG's 2025 M&A Recap & 2026 Outlook (Webinar)

Dealmakers spent 2025 recovering from the leftover uncertainty of 2024 and cautiously entering into new, highly vetted relationships. The key focus areas impacting every M&A professional's mind were lagging interest rates, longer hold periods, and post-acquisition value creation.

How did these concerns impact middle-market M&A activity and the lending markets in 2025, and what's in store for the year ahead?

Join us on Jan. 28 for a live webinar for ACG members and GF Data Subscribers to hear from Bob Dunn, managing director of GF Data, an ACG company; and Brent Baxter, chief executive officer of ACG and former investment banker with Nolan & Associates in St Louis.

The two will discuss what the data reveals about the past four quarters and where the market is headed, including:

• Sector-specific valuation trends for private-equity backed companies valued between $10 million and $500 million in Enterprise Value
• Forecast for middle-market, private equity-backed M&A transaction volume in 2026 and the likely impact on pricing
• Seller sentiment and motivations at the start of the new year
• A live Q&A discussion and more

The conversation will be grounded in GF Data's rich set of transaction data collected quarterly from more than 330 private equity groups sponsoring lower middle-market deals in the U.S. and Canada. GF Data records more than 30 data points on each contributor's deals, providing a clear benchmark for valuing and structuring transactions.

This webinar has now passed. Members who previously registered may watch the recording below by entering the password sent to them via email. Questions? Please email marketing@acg.org.