Today, the middle market is a robust, fertile area of dealmaking in a veritable desert of megadeals. A year earlier, before the credit crunch pinched the ability of buyout firms to execute deals over $1 billion, a panel at The Deal's 2007 Private Capital Symposium discussed how most firms had abandoned the middle market to niche players.
Now that the credit crunch has put a stop to the parade of megabuyouts, the middle market is once again a key target area for deep-pocketed financial buyers looking to escape the worst of a tight debt market. At The Deal's Fifth Annual
Private Capital Symposium on May 14, the climate for deals in the middle market will be the subject of a panel discussion. With the effects of tight credit starting to
spill into midmarket deals, the panelists will consider the current climate, as well as key issues such as where the credit crunch is biting hardest and how middle-market lenders are reacting to the contraction of the debt markets.
Moderated by The Deal's Auction Block senior editor Nathaniel Baker, the panel will feature James Epstein a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP; Marc Kramer, a managing director at Fenway Partners; Steven Rattner, managing director at DLJ Merchant Banking; and Adam D. Sokoloff, head of the financial sponsors group at Jefferies & Co. - George White
See more on the Private Capital Symposium
See Dealscape post on the middle market
