Counsel on the transaction itself.
A good M&A advisor earns their fee twice: once on the price, and once on the structure that protects the price after close.
Cohen Capital Markets advises founders, boards, sponsors, and management teams on the transactions that change the shape of the company. The work is partner-led from the first conversation through close, and beyond — through the early integration window when most of the value the deal promised is either captured or lost.
The firm's independence is structural rather than aspirational. We do not run a trading desk. We do not hold inventory. We do not earn anything on the side of a transaction we are advising against. Every recommendation we make sits inside the engagement letter we signed; nothing sits outside it.
Six M&A capabilities, all partner-led.
Buy-Side Advisory
Strategic acquirers and sponsors pursuing a defined target or operating thesis. The firm runs the diligence, the valuation, and the negotiation; the client retains decision authority.
Sell-Side Process Management
Founder-led, sponsor-led, and corporate divestiture processes. Buyer identification, NDA management, controlled outreach, negotiated bidding, and closing. The process is the protection.
MBOs & Recapitalizations
Management buyouts, partial liquidity events, and recapitalizations that preserve operating control. Capital partners selected for fit with the founder's time horizon, not the round size.
Fairness Opinions & Valuation
Independent fairness opinions for special committees, boards, and management teams. Valuation work supported by a defensible methodology and a partner who will defend it under scrutiny.
Integration Planning
Pre-close planning for the first hundred days. Operating model alignment, governance design, key talent retention, and the early integration moves that decide whether the deal thesis survives.
Deal Structuring & Negotiation
Structure, terms, earn-outs, indemnities, escrow, and the negotiation choreography that determines what the price actually buys. Partner-led at every step that matters.
Six steps, from first conversation through close.
The firm's standing engagement pattern for M&A. Each step is a partner deliverable; analyst work supports under partner supervision.
Strategic Assessment & Objective Setting
The honest read on what the transaction is solving for, what the realistic outcome looks like, and the boundary conditions the principal will not cross.
Market Intelligence & Target / Buyer Identification
The named universe of credible counterparties — strategics, sponsors, and adjacent platforms — built bottom-up from primary research, not pulled from a list.
Outreach, NDA & Preliminary Diligence
Controlled outreach to the named set. NDA management. Preliminary diligence packages calibrated to surface real interest without disclosing what does not need disclosing.
Negotiation & Letter of Intent
Negotiated bidding, term-sheet design, exclusivity terms, and the LOI that sets the structure of the deal. The price is set here; the diligence after only ratifies it.
Due Diligence & Documentation
Confirmatory diligence run on the firm's standard. Definitive-document negotiation through to signing. Material adverse-change protections set with the partner in the room.
Closing & Post-Transaction Support
Closing mechanics, working-capital reconciliation, the first hundred days of integration. The partner who opened the engagement is at the closing dinner.
The highest bid is not always the best transaction.
What makes a buyer the right buyer.
The highest bid is not always the best transaction. The firm's discipline on the sell side is to test every credible buyer against four dimensions before the seller accepts. The buyer who satisfies all four is the buyer who closes — and the buyer the seller can defend on the call to employees and customers the morning after the announcement.
Strategic logic.
Does the buyer's investment thesis depend on the seller's business performing as represented — or does it depend on changes the seller cannot deliver? The strategic logic is the underwriting; the underwriting determines whether the price holds.
Capital structure fit.
Can the buyer fund the transaction without re-trading the price? Equity check, leverage, financing commitments, and the credibility of the financing path through close. The buyer who re-trades after LOI is the buyer who never paid the price.
Cultural and operational fit.
Will the buyer hold the talent, the customer base, and the operating discipline that made the business worth acquiring in the first place? The deal that destroys the operating culture destroys the price it just paid.
Governance fit.
If the seller retains equity, sits on the board, or earns out — the governance terms determine whether that retained interest is real. Decision rights, information rights, protective covenants. The governance is the protection of the price.
Four common M&A situations.
A founder considering a sale at the right point in the cycle.
The business has reached a scale where institutional capital is the right next owner. The founder wants senior counsel that will tell them the honest answer on timing, valuation, and the structure that preserves what the family built.
A strategic acquirer pursuing a defined target or platform.
The target has been identified. The acquirer wants partner-led diligence, a defensible valuation, and a structured negotiation. The firm runs the process; the acquirer keeps the decision authority.
A special committee needing an independent fairness opinion.
A related-party transaction, a take-private, or a merger requires an independent fairness opinion the committee can defend to shareholders and to litigators. The firm runs the analysis; the partner signs and defends the opinion.
A sponsor designing a partial liquidity event.
The sponsor wants to crystallize a portion of the gain without exiting the platform. The firm advises on capital partner selection, structure, and the governance that survives the recap into the next hold period.
Read more from the firm.
Plainly answered.
How long does a typical M&A engagement run?
Sell-side processes typically run five to nine months from kickoff to close. Buy-side mandates run as long as the right target requires, with diligence and negotiation concentrated in the final ninety days. Fairness opinions are scoped to the committee's timeline.
What does the engagement cost?
M&A mandates typically involve a monthly retainer combined with a success fee tied to the value created at transaction close. Fairness opinions are flat-fee. We do not charge success fees on engagements where we do not create value, and we discuss every fee structure transparently in the engagement letter.
Will the firm represent both sides?
No. The firm represents one side of any transaction. We do not run a "two-sided" model where the same partner sits across the table from themselves. The independence is structural and absolute.
Does the firm execute the securities work itself?
No. Cohen Capital Markets is not a registered broker-dealer. Where the engagement involves securities execution, the matter is referred to a separate, unaffiliated FINRA/SIPC-registered broker-dealer partner. Cohen Capital Markets and such partners are separate, unaffiliated entities.