BMI Mergers & Acquisitions is a Philadelphia-based M&A advisory firm founded in 2007 by Tom Kerchner and Dave Clark, two practitioners who had already spent years buying, selling, and running businesses before they started advising others to do the same.
The firm focuses on privately held companies with revenues between $3 million and $150 million the lower and middle market and offers a full-service advisory approach that covers everything from initial valuation through post-closing integration.
With offices in Philadelphia, New York, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Lehigh Valley, and a team carrying up to 40 years of combined experience across hundreds of transactions, BMI occupies a specific and well-defined corner of the M&A landscape for business owners weighing an exit.
Key Takeaways
- BMI targets business owners with $3M–$150M in revenue and typically generates 5 to 15 competing offers per engagement.
- The firm operates a structured, 15-step process across three phases, from valuation to post-closing support.
- Team members hold M&AMI and CMAA certifications and FINRA Series 79 registrations, giving the firm investment banking credentials uncommon at the business broker level.
Who BMI Works With
BMI serves two distinct client types: sellers and buyers. On the sell side, they work with private business owners who want to exit whether that's in three months or three years.
On the buy side, they work with corporate strategic acquirers and private equity firms that are looking to grow through acquisition, including identifying companies that aren't actively listed for sale.
The revenue range they target ($3M–$150M) places them squarely in the lower-middle market, a segment that's often underserved.
Larger investment banks typically won't touch deals below $50M, and generalist business brokers often lack the sophistication to handle complex transactions with multiple bidders and institutional buyers.
BMI positions itself in between: more rigorous than a local broker, more accessible than a bulge-bracket bank.
The buyers they connect sellers with include private equity firms, strategic acquirers, and high-net-worth individuals, reaching across regional, national, and international markets.
The Sales Process: 15 Steps, 3 Phases
One of BMI's more concrete differentiators is their documented, three-phase process for managing a business sale.
Rather than leaving clients to navigate the process informally, BMI breaks it down into defined stages:
| Phase | Focus Areas |
|---|---|
| Phase I | Assessment, business valuation, personal needs analysis, sell-or-hold decision |
| Phase II | Marketing book development, blind teaser creation, buyer prospecting and evaluation |
| Phase III | Negotiation, letter of intent, deal structure, due diligence, closing, post-closing support |
This structure matters for a few reasons. Business owners who have never sold a company before which is most of them often don't know what they don't know.
Having a documented framework helps set expectations, reduces surprises, and keeps the process moving without requiring the owner to manage it themselves.
BMI's stated goal is to let business owners keep running their companies while the advisors handle the transaction.
The marketing component of Phase II deserves specific attention.
BMI develops a custom go-to-market plan for each client, including a blind teaser (an anonymous summary that protects the seller's identity during initial buyer outreach) and a full marketing book that details the business's financials, operations, and growth opportunities.
This type of professional marketing package is standard in larger investment banking deals but less common at the smaller end of the market.
Confidentiality Protocol
For most business owners, confidentiality is the single biggest concern when considering a sale.
Employees, customers, and suppliers can all be spooked if word gets out prematurely. BMI addresses this through a structured screening process:
- All prospective buyers must sign a non-disclosure agreement before the seller's identity is revealed.
- The seller pre-approves the buyer outreach plan, meaning no one gets contacted without authorization.
- NDAs include both confidentiality and non-solicitation protections.
- Due diligence requests are reviewed for necessity and flagged if they appear designed to gather competitive intelligence.
This is a more deliberate approach than many brokers take, and it reflects the firm's background working with institutional buyers who know how to exploit information gaps.
Industries and Completed Transactions
BMI focuses on five core industries where the team has the deepest operational knowledge:
- Manufacturing & Distribution
- Electronics
- Construction and Building Services
- Business Services
- Home Care & Imaging Services
Their closed transaction list covers actual company names and buyers, which gives a clearer picture of the deals they've done than a generic track record would.
Recent completions include AmeriNet (a networking and cybersecurity firm sold to ESI Technologies), Falcon Electric Inc. (a UPS manufacturer sold to Avnan Capital), Superior Iron Works (sold to Extreme Steel, Inc.), and Bardot Plastics (sold to New Pendulum Corporation).
Several other transactions involved Elmsley Capital as the buyer across multiple deals in manufacturing and industrial coatings.
The spread of these transactions shows activity across both financial buyers (private equity groups, family offices) and strategic acquirers (operating companies in related industries).
That buyer diversity matters because it increases the chances of competitive bidding, which is how sellers get better terms.
The Team's Background
BMI's advisory team is drawn from investment banking, business brokerage, and direct operating experience.
Several advisors have backgrounds at companies like Procter & Gamble, Arrow Electronics, Ford, Merrill Lynch, and Hershey Foods.
Others have founded and exited their own businesses in areas like management consulting, ecommerce, and IT services.
Professional certifications on the team include the M&AMI (Mergers & Acquisitions Master Intermediary) and CMAA (Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor) designations, issued by the International Business Brokers Association and the Association of Merger & Acquisition Advisors respectively.
Several team members also hold FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 registrations through StillPoint Capital LLC, which qualifies them to conduct investment banking transactions under securities regulations.
This combination of operating background and formal credentialing puts BMI in a different category from most business brokers, who often hold neither.
Business Valuation Services
Before a sale process begins, BMI offers standalone market valuations. These aren't formal certified appraisals in the traditional sense.
BMI's valuations are market-facing assessments: estimates of what buyers are actually paying right now for businesses like yours, based on the firm's ongoing buyer interactions and transaction databases.
For an owner trying to decide whether to sell now or wait, this kind of real-world pricing input is often more useful than an accountant's calculation of book value.
BMI also offers a Pre-Sale Preparation service for owners who know a sale is coming but not yet imminent.
The idea is to identify and address the issues that could reduce value or limit the buyer pool before they become problems during due diligence.
What to Consider Before Engaging
BMI is worth a close look for business owners in the $3M–$150M revenue range who want more buyer exposure and competitive bidding than a local broker provides, but who aren't large enough to attract top-tier investment banks.
The firm's structured process, confidentiality protocols, and credentialed team address the most common problems that derail business sales at this market level.
A few things a prospective client should think through before engaging: BMI's focus industries are manufacturing, electronics, construction, business services, and healthcare-adjacent services.
Businesses outside those sectors may still be a fit, but it's worth asking directly about comparable deals the firm has done.
Fees and engagement terms are not publicly listed, so an initial consultation is the necessary first step.
Conclusion
BMI Mergers & Acquisitions fills a real gap in the lower-middle market by bringing investment-banking-level process and buyer access to transactions that larger firms routinely pass on.
For a business owner in the right revenue range and industry, the combination of structured process, active buyer outreach, and certified advisors represents a credible option for managing what is often the most consequential financial transaction of their professional life.