The Case for Awards & InterGrowth

March 3, 2008

At first glance, spring 2008 might seem an odd time to recognize M&A deals in the middle market. Recession is looming, the debt markets are in full crunch mode, and the notion of 50% equity is not just theoretical anymore. Yes, the mid-market continues to be active, but the exercise of doing deals is both more challenging and expensive.

However, any deal pro who was active in 2007 will tell you that easy debt markets didn’t necessarily translate to a cakewalk when it came to winning M&A transactions. Auctions were — and still are, in many cases — highly competitive, bankers logged thousands of frequent flier miles and speed to execution was the order of the day. Clearly there were cases where deals fell into laps, but more often than not the bidding party had to work for the win.

We’ll be recognizing some of these transactions at the inaugural M&A Magazine Mid-Market Awards on April 10, held at 10:45 a.m. at ACG InterGrowth. Emceed by ESPN Baseball Co-Anchors Karl Ravech and John Kruk, the ceremony is a rare opportunity to recognize mid-market deals in front of a mid-market audience. We also have a special award for Road Warrior of the Year, as well as two awards from ACG.

The awards are just one of many important additions to this year’s InterGrowth, an annual conference that is widely regarded as the best and most important networking event for mid-market professionals. This year’s chairman Mark Jones, a partner with River Associates, told me about several enhancements that are worth pointing out:

• More space: The number of hotel rooms has doubled from 700 to 1400, while the overall meeting space has increased as well.
• More information pre-conference: Registered attendees get to see a detailed database of the 150 exhibiting private equity groups three weeks prior to the event.
• More organization: Those PE groups will be segmented based on their deal size focus, which means you can more easily match up firms with your own sweet spot.
• More entertainment: No, Mark Jones won’t be attempting any stand-up comedy, but there will be a New Orleans theme Wednesday night and an acoustic guitar and mandolin playing on Thursday night.
• And yes, more golf: Outings have been scheduled for Wednesday (2 courses reserved at ChampionsGate) and Friday (1 course at Hawks Landing).

Now that you’re even more revved up to attend the conference, why not double your pleasure by winning an award? We’ve extended the deadline for award nominations until the end of this week, so act quickly if you want the chance to win some hardware and get your picture taken with Ravech and Kruk. All submissions can be sent to ken.macfadyen@sourcemedia.com. See you in Orlando.