Patrick Boyce, partner and head of private equity at Highland Capital Management, LP, has a bullish outlook for distressed opportunities in the middle market. The Deal Pipeline spoke with Boyce at the ACG InterGrowth 2012 conference in Dallas, where he said these distressed opportunities are a result of poor management, political changes impacting the industry and high debt. For more from ACG InterGrowth, watch "Allegiance Capital's David Lonsdale on lower midmarket M&A." - Sarah Hashim-Waris