Searchers, Dreamers, and Fantasizers...those looking for company acquisitions.

As an M&A brokerage firm for the last 33 years, we have been overwhelmed with countless people that we call Searchers, Dreamers, and Fantasizers. These are people that hope to acquire a business with little or none of their own money. We receive an average of three similar inquiries every day. Most at recent MBA graduates from Ivy League schools. Some are corporate suits wanting to acquire a business. These folks belong to a group called Searchers or Pledge Funds. Any seller, in most cases that sell to one of these groups, has not canvased the market of all the countless groups with real money and solid covenants. There is an incredible amount of money in the market. It is estimated that there are over $1.4 Trillion dollars of "dry powder" and available capital from funds seeking acquisitions in the U.S. It is estimated that there are an average 329 groups actively seeking any good company sell opportunity. Likely, 328 of them are not qualified. Most if not all are seeking to do a Leveraged buyout. Why not. Interest rates have never been lower. At the higher end of the market, those organizations with more than $5 to $100 million of Ebitda, there are likely 537 groups for every project. Most of thes funds and groups have significant capital. These are the Private Equity, Family Offices, High net worth investors and institutional investor groups. Industry reports indicate that there are 5,400 Private Equity and Family Offices in the US an Canada that have a minimum of $500 million of captive and committed capital seeking acquisition or investment opportunities. Everybody is seeking very few opportunities. Apparently, a similar story exists in the real estate industry.

The Searchers have an Association and a website. There are thousands of people and groups that are spending their waking hours hoping to get something for nothing. Most have the word Capital after some catchy name. Many are relentless. Seeking something for nothing other than their ability to find a deal. Maybe?

Most have a list of potential investor backers. They provide the names of these people upfront. Some are very impressive. Among those are Bill Gates, Elon Musk and many senior business people. Many have a requested to have our name on the list. Nothing to lose. We are seeking deals day and night. Bill Gates office has apparently accepted proposals from over 3,849 Searchers who have submitted proposals. They request that the Searchers are encouraged to bring a good and credible opportunity to the table. Some transactions actually happen. However, not many.

As a matter of course, we do a credit and financial, and criminal checks of any potential buyers. Hard screening. The oldest line in the books is "we have a wealthy group backing us". The second most heard is life situations is "will love you in the morning".

At this time we have 1390 groups that are Dreamers and Pledge Funds on our database. We purge the list every two years. They all request coffee or lunch meetings at very least a conference call. Is it a sign of the times? Maybe. There is an "M&A Secret Society" in North America. It is a very tight group of people involved in the deal business. Nobody turns anybody away. We consider the searchers and dreamers as those that want to "screw the dog and sell the puppies". However, we wish them luck, do not discourage them. After they have emailed us for the third or fourth time, almost demanding that we show them a project, we suggest they get a job or do a startup. No guts, no glory. God bless the dreamers.

Mark Borkowski, pres, Mercantile Mergers & Acquisitions Corp is a Toronto, Canada a sell-side mergers & acquisitions firm for the past 33 years. He can be contacted at www.mercantilemergersacquisitions.com