Bill Sorenson, CEO of Heritage Capital Group and Managing Director of Business Valuations, was interviewed by Carter Mudgett of the Jacksonville Business Journal. The article, written by Mudgett, was published in the Jacksonville Business Journal and can be accessed via the following link.
First Coast M&A market heats up as dealmakers seek predictability amid economic uncertainty
As economic signals remain mixed and federal trade policy shifts become the norm, dealmakers across the country are chasing one elusive quality: predictability.
In Northeast Florida, that hunt is translating into renewed M&A activity and Jacksonville is standing out as a market of interest. While second-quarter deal volume declined year-over-year, according to an analysis by international accounting firm EY in June, the region is drawing outsized attention from financial buyers, Heritage Capital Group CEO Bill Sorenson recently told the Business Journal.
“I would say that the M&A market as a whole is warming up,” Sorenson said. “Northeast Florida didn’t cool nearly as much as other markets did, so it’s on the same trajectory but starting from a much better spot.”
Domestic manufacturing, health care and infrastructure are driving demand, according to Sorenson, and Jacksonville’s relative stability, paired with growing out-of-state and international interest, is keeping the city in the crosshairs of a warming mergers and acquisitions market.
“The Southeast overall is getting tremendous attention from financial buyers,” he said, pinpointing Florida and Texas as the most attractive markets for M&A. “Inside of Florida, I’d say Jacksonville is one of the stronger markets.”
Though Heritage is an intermediary and does not have a portfolio of companies, the group helps its clients — owners of privately held companies with enterprise values up to $250 million — develop strategies to raise capital, acquire businesses and sell their companies.
Most recently, the firm served as the exclusive financial advisor and intermediary to Sight & Sound, a local provider of event planning and audio-visual production, that was “recapitalized” by Jacksonville Beach-based Dubin Clark & Company Inc. in June. The financial details of the deal were undisclosed.
“Ultimately, the tariff stuff is going to settle somewhere,” Sorenson said. “The deals are going to get done once people in that space can show how much of the tariff impact will be absorbed by the market.”
On the flip side of tariffs, Sorenson said there’s “intense interest” in domestic manufacturing, something he called “a wake up call” to investors, noting how those deals have seen three times the interest than in the past.
“Domestic manufacturing is just very hot, very high right now,” he said.
When it came to identifying where deals were flowing from, Sorenson pinpointed both out-of-state and international acquirers targeting Florida businesses.
“A lot of European money is looking for a home here,” he said, noting “here” as the North Florida region. “At the end of the day, this is still a very strong, much more stable market than what they’re seeing. They’re looking for same thing: they’re looking for opportunities and more predictable return in markets outside of their own.”
