The Firmex M&A Fee Guide 2023-2024 — US Edition

The Current State of M&A Advisory Fees

In partnership with Axial and Divestopedia, the US edition uses data from Firmex’s 7th annual M&A Fee Guide 2023-2024 survey and is an authoritative source on M&A fees for sell-side engagements in the middle market. 

Firmex’s M&A European Fee Guide 2023-2024 Key Highlights

37% of US middle-market merger advisors increased fee levels in 2023, prompted mainly by rising costs and a more difficult dealmaking environment.

Many firms have also modified their fee structure to emphasize recurring engagement fees to mitigate the risk of deals that take a long time to complete or never close.

The growing use of earn-outs and complex deal structures is prompting firms to redefine how they calculate and collect success fees.

Middle-market firms have been able to hold their fee revenue steady and, for many, increase it even as business at larger investment banks continued to fall off.

Profitability largely held up despite rising costs. Those that increased fee levels were twice as likely to grow profits than those that didn’t.