When the company at stake is worth seven or eight figures, valuation stops being a report and becomes the backbone of the deal. Price, structure, earnout terms, and financing all trace back to how the earnings were measured and what multiple they deserve. Our M&A valuation practice serves owners and buyers in exactly that territory: the lower middle market, deals between roughly $1 million and $10 million and up, where St. Louis has plenty of companies and very few dedicated advisors.
For sellers
Before you go to market, you need to know what the company is worth to the buyers most likely to pay the most, which parts of your earnings a buyer will accept, and where diligence will attack. An M&A valuation prices the company the way sophisticated buyers will: recast EBITDA, adjusted for owner dependency and one-time items, benchmarked against actual transaction data. It becomes the foundation for the confidential marketing process and your negotiating floor.
For buyers
An independent valuation keeps an acquisition honest. Whether you’re an individual buyer, a search fund, or a company making a strategic add-on, we’ll tell you what the target is worth and, just as important, what it isn’t.
Quality of Earnings
Larger deals increasingly turn on a Quality of Earnings analysis: a focused examination of whether reported earnings are real, sustainable, and properly measured. We arrange QoE reporting through a specialist partner and integrate it with the valuation and deal process, so you get institutional-grade diligence without hiring a second firm to manage it.
One roof, whole deal
Valuation, deal structuring, negotiation, and closing management are all things we do daily as M&A advisors. The valuation isn’t an academic exercise here. It’s built by the people who will help you get the deal done.
Pricing: quoted by engagement.
Common questions
What’s different about valuing a $5M company vs. a $500K one?
Buyer pool, multiples, financing structures, and diligence depth all change. Lower-middle-market companies are priced on EBITDA with professional buyers at the table, and the valuation method has to match.
Do I need a QoE report to sell?
Not always. For deals above roughly $2-3M, expect the buyer to commission one, and consider a sell-side QoE to get ahead of it.
Will you represent me in the sale too?
Yes. That’s the point of doing the valuation with an M&A advisor.
Price the deal before the deal prices you. Set a Free Consultation
Jeff Kalil, BCA, CM&AP, CEPA — Business Certified Appraiser, Certified Merger & Acquisition Professional, Certified Exit Planning Advisor. Veteran-owned. Member: IBBA, M&A Source, AMAA, NACVA. Meet Jeff.