History and Mission

Mission Statement for The M&A Advisor

Since 1998, The M&A Advisor is the organization that facilitates connections and recognizes achievement in the top performers of the M&A, turnaround and financing industries.  We identify, connect and differentiate high performers—the elite—and as a result enable them to:

•  Be continually inspired to strive for excellence in their deal making craft and related conduct

•  Be acknowledged for the difference they and their transactions make to industry and the world at large and

•  Accelerate and systematize the process for closing higher quality deals. 

History

In 1998, frustrated with the dearth of news on middle market M&A transactions, Roger Aguinaldo, an investment banker formerly with Merrill Lynch, launched the subscriber-supported newsletter, The Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor.  “There was no newsletter that spoke to me as a boutique M&A professional.  Of course, with very big deals like the Del Monte Foods leveraged buyout that I worked on, it was easy to find news, data and history . . .  everything was right on the front pages of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times,” recalls founder Roger Aguinaldo.

Aguinaldo learned that information is the crucial necessity in this business.  Back then, he began working at a boutique investment banking firm dealing with small, middle market companies.  He discovered that reliable, timely, important information on companies and people at this level of the market was extremely hard to find.  Thus, The Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor newsletter was born.

The newsletter grew quickly and over the years has transformed into a free email newsletter that is delivered to over 52,000 of professionals called the M&A Alerts Click Here.

Our middle market community grew even bigger and more diverse.  In 2000, Aguinaldo believed that The M&A Advisor could bring the subscribers together with a conference to learn from and start networking with each other.  What began as one annual conference is now five Summits in the areas of M&A, International M&A, Distressed Investing and Financing.

In 2002, The M&A Advisor introduced the very first awards program to the industry.  We presented just two awards; today, we have five different awards programs with over 175 categories, including M&A Awards, Financing Awards, Turnaround Awards, International M&A Awards and a 40 Under 40 Recognition Awards.

Our very first award was given to Wilbur Ross of W. L. Ross & Co. which won the 2002 M&A Advisor Award for Private Equity Firm of the year.  That year his firm acquired two bankrupt steel companies with 235 million dollars in cash.   The result was International Steel Group which recently announced that it will be acquired by Mittal Steel for $4.5 billion in cash and stock. 

At each awards program, we give a lifetime achievement award to deal makers who have demonstrated a “lifetime” of excellence.  Lifetime achievement award recipients include former Commerce Secretary Pete Peterson of The Blackstone Group; venture capitalist David Morgenthaler; private equity investor John K. Castle; turnaround specialist Wilbur L. Ross, Jr.  All Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients have been inducted into the M&A Advisor Hall of Fame. Click Here

This is a tough business.  It takes persistence, drive, imagination and courage to make a successful melding of corporate entities.  An M&A transaction is actually an investment of 100% of the company’s stock.  That’s a total commitment.  That’s why the winning professionals and companies deserve our respect and admiration to say nothing of our envy.  That is why M&A Advisor created and continues to host the M&A Advisor Awards.