ACG’s 2025 Legend Award Winners

Their creativity and business acumen underpinned these ventures, while their reputations and relationships within the ACG deal community helped them take off. Starting out, however, neither Frazier nor Greenberg saw their careers playing out the way they have—nor did they expect to create a data product that would revolutionize how middle-market practitioners access information about private companies.

GF Data Takes Shape

The origins of GF Data date back two decades. Andy Greenberg, an investment banker, had become frustrated with the lack of good valuation reporting on smaller middle-market companies. He called Graeme Frazier, a friend in the Philadelphia area deal community who had founded his own deal sourcing/ investment firm, to talk about the problem. Frazier agreed: There was indeed a void in the market, and he wanted to help fill it.

In 2006, the two set out to find a way to share valuation data and key deal terms for private equity-sponsored transactions with between $10 million and $250 million in enterprise value. (The upper threshold would increase to $500 million in 2022.)

“By 2006, I had my own boutique investment firm, and I wanted to do something entrepreneurial that provided counterweight against the relatively spiky nature of the M&A business,” says Greenberg. “Graeme was already focusing on data, and there was an enormous need in the market for data on transactions in the size range where we were active as practitioners. It seemed like a fee-based data business could address the market need and generate a revenue stream.”

To source this data, Frazier and Greenberg approached their industry friends. “Private equity is a relationship business. If you don’t act accordingly, you do not stay,” says Frazier. “Luckily for Andy and me, we had good relationships with the funds. We went to people we knew well and who trusted us and asked them to share their deal terms. We figured if we could get enough firms to participate, we might have something.”

But there was a major barrier to overcome: No firm wanted to be the only one supplying data, out of concern that it would be revealed as the source. Greenberg and Frazier worked to assuage their colleagues’ fears. With the assistance of a business process outsourcing firm, they created an anonymous system that replaced every firm’s name with a number, thus shielding the funds’ identities. The system also averaged the valuations, so no underlying deal metrics were ever exposed. Plus, firms that contributed data were able to see the aggregate findings, providing an incentive to contribute.

GF Data was able to get about 20 funds to participate in its first valuation survey. Frazier and Greenberg considered that a success. “We created a good system and made GF Data the recipient of lower middle-market deal data. While the data contributors were nervous, they also wanted the data. They needed the output to do their jobs better, so it was worth a shot for them,” says Frazier. “There was no place to get this information in the lower middle market.”

A New Home for the Brand

Greenberg and Frazier funded the business themselves until 2012 when, with the help of sales lead Bob Wegbreit, the business was able to stand on its own. The two partners pressed on with the mission, not only because it was personally beneficial for their work, but because it was helpful to the industry.

“Before GF, practitioners working on a $50 million deal generally needed to rely on publicly reported data on larger deals or on private data with no consistent methodology,” says Greenberg. “As a result, we were seeing a persistent gap between sellers’ valuation expectations and reality in pricing. GF Data worked because it answered a market need. By collecting and publishing the data, we were showing the reality and helped investment bankers better manage sellers’ expectations.”

We were seeing a persistent gap between sellers’ valuation expectations and reality in pricing. GF Data worked because it answered a market need. By collecting and publishing the data, we were showing the reality and helped investment bankers better manage sellers’ expectations.

Andrew Greenberg

Greenberg Variations Capital

When the time came to exit GF Data, Greenberg and Frazier felt the Association for Corporate Growth was the natural home for their brainchild. In 2022, when they sold the company, it was aggregating valuation data from more than 350 private equity firms. “It didn’t belong with one of the giant data providers. It belonged with ACG, which has tons of high-trust, strong relationships, which is what GF was built on. You must have that to get the firms to contribute the data,” says Frazier. “We felt GF had a good chance of succeeding within ACG, and we were right.”

Brent Baxter, CEO of ACG, says GF Data is a key asset for the organization: “ACG was a natural fit for GF Data because it was built on Andy and Graeme’s personal relationships, and personal relationships are what ACG is all about.”

GF Data continues to grow its base of contributors and subscribers under ACG’s ownership and the leadership of Managing Director Bob Dunn. “Brent Baxter and Bob Dunn see GF as not just a product add-on but as an extension of ACG’s efforts to maintain a community and foster relationships among its members,” says Greenberg. “It was the right home for the brand.”

The Founders

The creativity, tenacity and strong relationships that helped make GF Data a success have also served Frazier and Greenberg well in their individual careers, where they’ve made a significant impact on the ACG community and the M&A ecosystem.

Here’s a look at each of their paths that led them to where they are today.

Graeme Frazier

At the start of his career, Graeme Frazier didn’t foresee building a data business, nor did he set out to have a career in middle-market private equity. After starting out in finance working for investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in Boston, Frazier moved back to the Philadelphia area and became general manager of Murphy-Parker, Inc., a 100-yearold hardcover book manufacturing company that his father-in-law owned. Five years into Frazier’s tenure, the company hired an investment banker to sell the business.

The sale meant Frazier would be looking for his next job, but then something fortuitous happened. “The banker and I got along well. He became a mentor and taught me how to buy companies with no money down. These were turnarounds, distressed companies. We wound up buying a bunch of turnaround companies together in the publishing space and beyond,” says Frazier.

The two bought Princeton University Press’ printing division and merged the book binding company into it; Frazier became president of that company. The men created a holding company and acquired additional graphic arts businesses, along with businesses in other industries like wastewater treatment equipment and aerospace. The company went public through a reverse merger with a public shell company in the early-mid 1990s and traded on the NASDAQ pink sheets.

After starting a family and completing an executive MBA program at Temple University, Frazier sold his stock and joined Berwind Financial Group, a subsidiary of a family-owned investment management company. The firm had a buy-and-hold strategy and hired Frazier as the director of research tasked with finding deal flow. “We were operating with one family office limited partner, and when the firm disbanded, it gave me time to think about what was next,” says Frazier.

Through his work at Berwind, Frazier developed the idea to launch PCR Partners (formerly called Private Capital Research LLC). Most family offices, like Frazier’s previous employer, had not yet developed sophisticated internal sourcing capabilities that the larger private equity firms had, putting them at a disadvantage when it came to deal flow. PCR set out to change that for smaller and midsized investors and limited partners.

Founded in 2001, PCR is an outsourced business development partner to family offices, private equity sponsors, Native American tribal nations and corporate clients. PCR sources and originates platform deals for and with its clients and invests alongside them in the deals that are completed. Deal opportunities are sourced primarily from relationships with boutique sellside advisors, deal professionals and influential individuals that PCR has cultivated over more than two decades.

Lauren Mulholland, a partner at MiddleGround Capital, has worked with Frazier on multiple engagements and attests to his firm’s model. “PCR has been an outsourced business development (partner) for two firms I have worked at while we were building our sourcing efforts. Graeme is the most sincere, trustworthy guy, and he has excellent relationships in the entire middle-market community. He also sourced deals for us that we closed on,” says Mulholland. “His model is a great way to show alignment, and he’s thoughtful about what he brings to his clients.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of PCR, which Frazier’s son joined three years ago, along with longtime business partner Joe Morris. “I’ve been blessed to have fabulous business partners, and it’s especially nice to have my son with me. He’s expecting his first child, so it’s an exciting time,” says Frazier.

ACG has been a big part of Frazier’s career over the years. Not only was ACG the buyer of GF Data, but it was also the source of some of his most meaningful connections. “I have been all over the country to attend ACG events. We would go to the Capital Connections and convince the private equity partners to contribute data to us. It was a big impetus to getting GF Data off the ground,” he says. “ACG has been instrumental to building the relationships that have allowed for success at both PCR and GF Data.”

ACG has been instrumental to building the relationships that have allowed for success at both PCR and GF Data.

Graeme Frazier

PCR Partners

Andrew Greenberg

Like his GF Data co-founder, Andy Greenberg’s path has similarly taken some unexpected turns.

Among those is his foray into podcasting over the last few years as co-host of Middle Market Musings alongside Charlie Gifford, a founder
of New Heritage Partners.

After years of talking about doing a podcast together, in 2021, Gifford bought some recording equipment and told Greenberg he was ready to give it a try. “My one thought was to say, it would be more fun if he did it with someone else, but I jumped in,” recalls Greenberg, who describes the podcast as a “mixtape” for middle-market M&A. “The idea from the beginning was to get bankers and deal sponsors to talk about what they have to say after they’ve given the elevator pitch. We have a lot of fun and shed light on the qualities associated with leadership in our industry. I like to think we are contributing knowledge, humor and spreading an appreciation of our business to the outside world,” says Greenberg.

Greenberg didn’t set out to be a podcaster or a founder of GF Data—or, for that matter, a government employee or an investment banker. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he planned to be a corporate lawyer but took a detour into the Pennsylvania state government. He worked in the Department of Commerce for eight years and as the secretary of commerce for the last four years of his tenure.

Greenberg decided he didn’t want a future in politics, but working for the Commerce Department fostered an interest in businesses. He went to Brown Brothers Harriman to learn the ropes of banking so he could stay connected to businesses and entrepreneurs. “I had to backfill and, with very tolerant colleagues, I learned. I really liked how the M&A business was practiced in the middle market, and I liked working with families and entrepreneurs,” says Greenberg. “Working with individuals who are builders of business managers and stewards of family wealth became so interesting to me.”

Greenberg was hooked and continued to work as a banker at middle-market firms, including Commerce Capital Markets, Fairmount Partners, TM Capital Corp., and finally as CEO of Greenberg Variations Capital (GVC). Formed in 2019, GVC focuses on the subset of deals for which owners don’t want, or don’t need, a full-fledged auction process.

Greenberg knew there was room in the market for his idea. “The world was moving toward specialization and by 2017, gone were the days where bankers got assignments through personal relationships or introductions. Owners are getting called on by every middle-market firm and every boutique with expertise in the industry,” says Greenberg.

The sellers have identified a likely buyer, or a handful of buyers, and they don’t want or need to pay for the staff or the infrastructure of a full-service investment bank. GVC focuses on transactions involving companies with between $5 million and $30 million in EBITDA. The firm’s largest referral sources are trusted relationships like attorneys and wealth managers.

Rob Walper, a partner with law firm Fox Rothschild, is among those trusted relationships. He recalls working with Greenberg on a number of deals, as well as referring clients to him. “Andy’s been an institution in the M&A space for a long time,” Walper says. “He’s an expert at negotiation.”

Greenberg’s connection to GF Data also proved immensely useful during transactions. “When he launched GF Data, I used him often as a resource,” Walper says. “I would tell clients I know Andy Greenberg as a source of pride and that I could call him up and get valuations or key deal terms. It added tremendous value to processes. It stopped many false stories about companies being worth 15x EBITDA.”

When Greenberg isn’t building a new business or selling a company, he is busy spending time with his two college-aged sons. “It’s all been a fun ride,” he says, “and I feel so lucky to be able to do what I do at work and outside of it in a constellation of great communities.”

Danielle Fugazy is a freelance writer who has covered private equity for more than 20 years. She is based in Glen Cove, New York.

Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.