2024 Recap: The Best of the Conversations Podcast

For dealmakers, 2024 may not have panned out to be the return to M&A normalcy that so many had hoped. Stubbornly high inflation continued to send shockwaves throughout every sector, though its impacts varied from one industry to the next. Expensive capital also shifted the landscape of how transactions were financed, with potentially long-lasting impacts for the credit markets.

Our most listened-to episodes of the Middle Market Conversations podcast reflects these trends, and highlight industries with intriguing acquisition targets, exit readiness strategy and a deep dive into one of the middle market’s most high-profile mergers of the year.

5. Consulting the Crystal Ball with WhiteHorse Capital

After the ups and downs of 2023, the M&A market has been widely predicted to see a return to normal in 2024—but not everyone agrees with that assessment. Stuart Aronson, executive managing director and CEO of WhiteHorse U.S., and Pankaj Gupta, president of WhiteHorse U.S. and global head of origination, join the podcast to share their predictions and insights on what’s next for inflation, underwriting standards, portfolio performance, and more.

4. How Forvis Mazars Built a Global Network

When in June 2024 FORVIS, a top U.S. accounting and advisory firm, combined with Mazars, an international professional services firm, the firms created a unique global network and marked one of the many innovative structural changes accounting firms are implementing to evolve with a changing market. Scott Linch, partner with Forvis Mazars, and Bob Dunn, managing director of GF Data, an ACG company, join the podcast to talk about this deal, the unique moment that makes a global network so attractive, trends in the professional services sector and more.

3. Talking Nuclear Infrastructure Investment with Nano Nuclear

Government incentives and environmental mandates are expected to attract investors to nuclear energy, and the technological advances and infrastructure upgrades needed to support it. Nano Nuclear Energy’s Jay Yu, founder, executive chairman and president, and James Walker, CEO and board member, join the podcast to talk about areas of opportunity in the sector and what’s ahead for nuclear energy development.

2. A CFO’s Perspective on Exit Readiness

As deal volume begins to recover and business leaders look forward to a falling rate environment, exit preparedness should be top of mind for finance leaders and dealmakers alike. Tom Pierce, managing director of the CFO advisory services arm of Consero Global, joins the podcast to offer a CFO’s point of view on the most important elements to consider ahead of a sale and how to kick off an exit preparation process.

1. Delivering Dividends: Investing in Accounting Firms

Since 2020, private equity firms and accounting firms have experienced a mutual attraction, with multiple deals making their way to the finish line, and experts say that trend is likely to continue. Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, joins the podcast to discuss why accounting firms are transforming, how acquirers can determine which accounting firms are attractive targets, and the opportunities emerging in the sector.

The Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To hear more interviews with middle-market influencers, subscribe to the Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud.