M&A Advisor in New York: Buy-Side and Sell-Side Engagements for Lower Middle Market Businesses

New York is the largest M&A market in the United States by deal volume and total transaction value. The state hosts the deepest buyer pool in the country across nearly every category of acquirer that matters in lower middle market work: PE platforms with active New York footprints, family offices concentrated in Manhattan, Westchester, and the Hamptons, search fund operators sourced through the NYC business school pipeline, and strategic acquirers in financial services, media, technology, healthcare, and B2B services. What New York does not have is the regulatory or tax posture that other top-tier M&A states use to attract sellers. Unlike Florida, Texas, Washington, or Tennessee, New York imposes the highest combined state and local personal income tax burden in the country on capital gains. It has not enacted a state-level M&A broker exemption. And the Martin Act (General Business Law Article 23-A) gives the New York Attorney General the broadest fraud enforcement authority of any state regulator in the United States. The trade-off is buyer density, and for many sellers it favors New York. The numbers are worth understanding before signing anything.

This page covers what an M&A advisor does in New York, how the role differs from a business broker and an investment banker, what buy-side and sell-side engagements look like, and how CT Acquisitions’ buyer-paid model fits into the picture. We are an M&A advisory firm, not a registered broker-dealer. We do not hold seller funds or securities. We do not engage in public-offering activity. The regulatory framing matters because New York’s enforcement environment is meaningfully stricter than the average state. The economic framing matters because it determines who pays whom and when. Both are covered below in detail, with citations to the underlying statutes and primary source material.

What an M&A Advisor Does in New York

An M&A advisor in New York facilitates the sale or purchase of privately held businesses, typically in the lower middle market range of $1M to $50M EBITDA. The advisor sits between the operating business and the eventual transaction counterparty, managing the process steps that determine whether a deal closes on terms the client can live with. Those steps include positioning the business for sale (or sourcing acquisition targets if buy-side), preparing diligence-ready financials and supporting materials, identifying and approaching the right pool of counterparties, managing competitive tension across multiple interested parties, negotiating the letter of intent, coordinating diligence workflow, and shepherding the transaction through close.

The role exists because the alternative is materially worse. Founders who attempt to run a sale process themselves typically encounter three problems in sequence. First, they cannot reach the institutional buyer pool. The PE platforms, family offices, search funds, and strategic acquirers that pay the highest multiples for lower middle market businesses do not respond to cold inbound from sellers without representation. Second, even when contact is made, founders do not have the negotiating position that comes from running a multi-party process. A single bilateral negotiation produces a single bid. Third, the diligence and close-of-transaction workstreams are detail-heavy enough that running them while also running the operating business produces preventable mistakes that cost real money at close. New York’s enforcement environment adds a fourth problem for self-represented sellers: any deceptive statement or material omission in connection with a private securities transaction can attract Martin Act exposure for the seller personally, with no requirement that the AG prove intent to defraud.

The role of the M&A advisor in New York is structurally identical to the role anywhere else in the United States, with three New York-specific overlays. The first overlay is regulatory: New York has not adopted a state-level M&A broker exemption, so intermediaries operate under the federal Exchange Act Section 15(b)(13) exemption with the Martin Act and General Business Law 359-e/359-f running in parallel as state law. The second overlay is tax: New York imposes the highest combined state and local personal income tax burden on capital gains in the United States for NYC residents. The third overlay is market density: the NYC metropolitan area is the deepest concentration of institutional buyers in the country, and Long Island, Westchester, and the upstate metros each host distinct lower middle market ecosystems with active platform consolidation. The combined effect is that New York sellers face a less favorable regulatory and tax environment than peers in Florida or Texas, but materially better buyer access than peers in less platform-dense states.

We are CT Acquisitions, a buy-side M&A advisory firm. We work with acquirers building platforms in the lower middle market, and we also represent founders on the sell side under a buyer-paid model where the buyer pays our fee at close and the seller pays nothing. We are not a registered investment bank. We are not a registered broker-dealer. We operate under the federal M&A broker exemption described above and we conduct New York transactions consistent with applicable state law including the Martin Act. We are also not a New York business broker in the Main Street sense, which is the next distinction worth drawing.

M&A Advisor vs Business Broker vs Investment Banker in New York

The three roles overlap in popular usage but separate cleanly along four axes: deal size, regulatory status, fee model, and engagement structure. New York sellers commonly hear all three terms used interchangeably, but the practical differences shape the entire trajectory of a transaction. Below is the structural comparison.

Role	Typical deal size	Regulatory status	Fee model	Engagement
Business broker	Main Street: $0–$5M enterprise value	Asset-sale focused. NY real estate brokerage license in transactions involving real property; Martin Act applies to all securities components	5–12% success fee paid by seller; sometimes flat retainer	Listing agreement, 6–12 month exclusivity, MLS-style buyer marketing
M&A advisor	Lower middle market: $1M–$50M EBITDA	Operates under federal Exchange Act 15(b)(13) M&A broker exemption; NY has no state-level M&A broker exemption, so GBL Article 23-A (Martin Act) and 359-e/359-f apply in parallel	Sell-side: 3–10% success fee, retainer common. CT Acquisitions: buyer-paid, $0 to seller. Buy-side: retainer plus modified Lehman success fee	Engagement letter or no-contract model; targeted buyer outreach to institutional counterparties
Investment banker	Middle market and up: $25M+ EBITDA, public offerings, securities-related transactions	FINRA-registered broker-dealer, individuals hold Series 79 (or Series 63/82 as applicable); SEC, NYAG, and other state regulators	Retainer plus Lehman or modified Lehman success fee; may include equity participation	Engagement letter with 12–24 month exclusivity; auction-style process

Where each role fits in practice. A New York business broker is the right choice for a Main Street business under $1M EBITDA where the buyer pool is local owner-operators or first-time business buyers. An M&A advisor is the right choice in the $1M to $50M EBITDA range where the buyer pool is institutional (PE platforms, family offices, search funds, strategic acquirers). An investment banker is the right choice when the transaction involves securities registration, a public offering, a large-scale debt-financed buyout, or a process that requires FINRA-registered execution. CT Acquisitions operates squarely in the M&A advisor band, with no overlap into investment banking activity that would require broker-dealer registration.

A regulatory note on the “investment banker” label. Under U.S. securities law, a person who facilitates securities transactions for compensation is generally required to register as a broker-dealer with FINRA. The federal M&A broker exemption (Exchange Act Section 15(b)(13)) carves out a specific class of intermediary that facilitates the transfer of ownership of eligible privately held companies without holding funds or securities and without engaging in public-offering activity. The federal exemption does not preempt state law and is non-preemptive in New York by its own terms. M&A advisors operating under the federal exemption are not investment bankers and should not be called investment bankers. The distinction is not stylistic. It is regulatory.

Buy-Side M&A Advisor Engagements in New York

On the buy-side, we work with acquirers building lower middle market platforms through add-on acquisitions in New York and nationally. Typical buy-side engagements involve sourcing $1M to $15M EBITDA add-on targets for an existing PE platform, sourcing first-acquisition targets for search fund operators, or sourcing direct acquisitions for family offices and strategic buyers. Buy-side engagement structure differs materially from sell-side: the buyer pays our fee through a retainer plus success-fee combination, typically on a Lehman or modified Lehman scale. Buy-side engagement fees range widely depending on transaction size, mandate complexity, exclusivity terms, and the depth of sourcing required.

Four primary buy-side client types engage M&A advisors in New York. Each operates with different capital, different acquisition criteria, and different process expectations.

PE Platform Add-On Acquisitions

Private equity firms that have already invested in a platform with New York operations engage M&A advisors to source add-on acquisitions that grow the platform. The economics of platform consolidation depend on multiple-arbitrage: the platform trades at a higher EBITDA multiple than the add-ons it buys, so every add-on creates incremental enterprise value at close. In the residential and commercial services space, Sila Services (backed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania) entered New York with the 2021 acquisition of Astacio Plumbing & HVAC in Westchester and expanded to Western New York with T-Mark Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric (Buffalo) in April 2024. Astra Service Partners (backed by Alpine Investors via Orion Group) added Air Comfort Service Group, a Long Island-based commercial HVAC operator serving all five NYC boroughs, in March 2026. PremiStar (backed by Partners Group) entered the New York City metro through Trademark Mechanical (Elmsford) in January 2025 and added Armistead Mechanical (Hudson Valley) in April 2026. These platforms run sourcing programs that combine internal corporate-development teams with external buy-side M&A advisors.

Search Fund Acquisitions

Search funders raise capital from investors specifically to acquire and operate a single privately held business. New York is one of the top states in the country for search fund deal flow on the buyer side, driven by the NYC business school pipeline (Columbia, NYU Stern, and Wharton with substantial New York alumni density) and the depth of NYC-based investor capital backing searchers. A search fund acquisition is typically a single $1M to $5M EBITDA target where the searcher will become the new CEO at close. M&A advisor engagements on the search-fund buy-side often involve broad outbound to founder-led businesses in specific industries (B2B distribution, industrial services, healthcare services, niche software) within defined New York or regional geographies, including frequent targeting of upstate New York and the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state corridor where founder-led LMM businesses are concentrated.

Family Office Direct Acquisitions

Family offices in New York (concentrated in Manhattan, Westchester, the Hamptons, and Greenwich just across the Connecticut line) increasingly pursue direct private-company acquisitions rather than allocating exclusively to PE fund commitments. New York is the largest single-city concentration of single-family offices in the United States. The family-office buyer profile differs from PE in three ways: longer hold horizons (often perpetual or generational rather than the standard PE 5-to-7-year fund cycle), lower required IRR thresholds (which translates to capacity to pay higher multiples), and more operational flexibility (no fund-level deployment pressure). M&A advisor engagements on the family-office buy-side typically involve narrower, more curated target lists matched to the family’s industry preferences and the principal’s operating capacity.

Strategic Acquirers Building Platforms via Add-Ons

Public companies, established LMM platforms, and corporate development teams at multi-site operators engage M&A advisors to source bolt-on acquisitions that fit a specific strategic thesis. EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME), one of the largest publicly traded mechanical and electrical services contractors in the United States, operates EMCOR Services New York / New Jersey, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary established in 1966, providing commercial HVAC, mechanical, and total facilities management services across the NYC metropolitan area. Strategic buy-side engagements often look more like targeted-search projects than the broad-outreach style of PE platform sourcing.

Sell-Side M&A Advisor Engagements in New York

On the sell-side, M&A advisors in New York represent founders and ownership groups exiting privately held businesses, typically in the $1M to $50M EBITDA range. The classic sell-side engagement is what most founders encounter first: a sell-side advisor or broker offers an engagement letter that includes a retainer of $25,000 to $100,000+ (depending on deal size), a 12 to 24 month exclusivity period, and a success fee of 3% to 10% of the transaction value at close, sometimes structured on a Lehman scale where the percentage steps down as deal size grows. New York fee levels at the top of the LMM range often run higher than the national average because NYC investment-banking-grade engagements anchor the local market.

The classic sell-side process runs in five phases. Phase one is positioning and materials preparation: the advisor builds a confidential information memorandum (CIM), management presentation, and supporting financials, typically over 60 to 90 days. Phase two is buyer outreach: the advisor approaches a defined target list of strategic acquirers, PE platforms, family offices, search funds, and other potential counterparties, typically over 30 to 60 days. Phase three is initial-bid management: interested parties submit indications of interest (IOIs), and the advisor manages competitive tension across the parties to produce a short list. Phase four is letter-of-intent negotiation: the advisor coordinates LOI terms across the short list and the seller selects a winning bidder, often after management meetings. Phase five is diligence and close: 60 to 120 days of confirmatory diligence followed by definitive documentation and close.

That process works. It also costs the seller 3 to 10 percent of the transaction value at close, plus the retainer paid up-front. For a $20M transaction at a 5% success fee, that is $1M in advisor fees plus the retainer. For a $40M transaction at the same fee, it is $2M plus retainer. The fee makes sense when the alternative is leaving more than that on the table through a worse process. The fee does not make sense if there is a path to the same buyer pool with the same competitive tension without paying it.

CT Acquisitions runs that alternative path on the sell-side for a subset of founders who fit the model. We do not run full sell-side auctions. We run buyer-network-led processes for founders who are open to engaging with our existing network of 76+ active acquirers under a buyer-paid model. The seller pays nothing. The buyer pays our fee at close. There is no engagement letter, no retainer, no exclusivity period, and no obligation to engage. We are not a substitute for a traditional sell-side advisor in every situation, particularly when a founder wants a broad-market competitive auction with named investment-bank pedigree in a $50M+ transaction. But for founders who want a fast, confidential, buyer-network-led path to a transaction without paying a sell-side fee, the model is different from a traditional New York sell-side advisor or business broker.

The CT Acquisitions Model: How Buyer-Paid Works

The traditional sell-side M&A advisor or business broker charges the seller 5% to 10% of the transaction value through a fixed-term engagement letter, plus retainer in many cases. CT Acquisitions charges the seller nothing. We are paid by the buyer when a transaction closes. There is no engagement contract, no retainer, no exclusivity period. We are not a substitute for sell-side representation in every situation, but for founders who want a buyer-network-led path to a transaction without paying a sell-side fee, we are a different model than a traditional broker or M&A advisor.

Here is the actual flow. A New York founder reaches out through the form or schedules a call. We have a confidential 30-minute conversation to understand the business, the seller’s goals, and the realistic buyer pool. If the business fits the buyer profile of one or more counterparties in our network, we make targeted introductions. The buyer (PE platform, family office, search funder, strategic acquirer) engages with the seller directly. If a transaction proceeds and closes, the buyer pays our fee at close. If the conversation does not lead to a transaction, no one owes anyone anything. There is no obligation to engage with any introduced buyer, and there is no obligation to use us at all.

Why buyers pay us willingly. The economics work because we save the buyer money on the alternative. A PE platform sourcing add-ons without an external advisor is paying its corporate-development team, its outsourced sourcing vendors, or both, to surface qualified targets. The all-in cost of internal sourcing per closed deal is typically 1% to 3% of transaction value, sometimes higher. We deliver pre-qualified, sponsor-fit, ready-to-engage sellers at a comparable or lower all-in cost, and we do it without a retainer or month-to-month burn. For the buyer, it is a variable cost. They only pay us when a deal closes.

What the model is not. It is not a free alternative to a traditional sell-side advisor in every scenario. We do not run broad competitive auctions across hundreds of named parties. We do not produce a 90-page CIM. We do not represent the seller’s interests in adversarial negotiation with the buyer in the same way a sell-side investment bank would in a $50M+ transaction. The model works best for founders who value speed, confidentiality, and a buyer-network-led process over a maximally-competitive auction. For sellers in the $20M+ EBITDA range running formal processes, traditional sell-side representation with NYC investment-banking pedigree often still makes sense, and we will say so when it does.

Element	Traditional NY sell-side	CT Acquisitions (buyer-paid)
Seller fee	3–10% success fee on close	$0
Retainer	$25K–$100K+ up front	None
Engagement period	12–24 months exclusivity	No contract, walk anytime
Process style	Broad competitive auction (60+ buyers)	Curated buyer-network introductions
Timeline to close	9–14 months typical	60–120 days to LOI; total 4–7 months
Best fit for	$20M+ EBITDA, max competitive tension	$1M–$10M EBITDA, speed and confidentiality

New York-Specific M&A Activity in 2025-2026

New York produces the largest share of disclosed U.S. M&A activity by total deal value, driven by NYC’s role as the headquarters of the bulge-bracket investment banks, BigLaw firms, and the largest concentration of institutional capital in the country. Lower middle market activity in the state is regionally distinct: NYC dominates upper-middle-market and large-cap deal flow, while Long Island, Westchester, and the upstate metros (Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester) host distinct LMM ecosystems where platform-backed roll-ups are the most consistently active strategic and financial buyers. Q1 2025 North American M&A volume rose approximately 6.9% year-over-year per S&P Global Market Intelligence, and 88% of bankers in the Capstone Partners 2024-2025 middle-market survey reported that middle-market dealmaking matched or exceeded the broader market.

Platforms Active in New York

Sila Services. Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Backed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives as majority sponsor since November 2024, with Morgan Stanley Capital Partners as the prior 2021-2024 sponsor. Entered New York in 2021 with the acquisition of Astacio Plumbing & HVAC, serving Westchester County and Fairfield County, Connecticut. Expanded to Western New York in April 2024 with the acquisition of T-Mark Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric in Buffalo. Sila is a Pennsylvania-headquartered platform with substantial New York operating density rather than a New York-domiciled platform.

Redwood Services. Backed by OMERS Private Equity. Acquired Crisafulli Bros., an Albany-based third-generation residential HVAC and plumbing service company named Best of the Capital Region for 17 consecutive years. The investment anchored Redwood’s Upstate New York footprint in the residential services category.

Wrench Group. Backed by Leonard Green & Partners with TSG Consumer Partners as legacy minority. Acquired Falso Service Experts in Syracuse, providing HVAC and home services across Central and Upstate New York. Wrench operates a national multi-brand platform with substantial deal flow inside and outside New York.

Astra Service Partners. Backed by Alpine Investors through Orion Group as the holding company. Added Air Comfort Service Group (ACSG), a Long Island-based commercial HVAC, refrigeration, and food-service-equipment operator with 80+ technicians serving all five boroughs and the greater NYC market, effective March 2026. ACSG materially expanded the Astra commercial services footprint in the NYC metropolitan area.

PremiStar (formerly Reedy Industries). Backed by Partners Group. Partnered with Trademark Mechanical (Elmsford, New York) in January 2025 as its first New York footprint, serving Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Added Armistead Mechanical (Hudson Valley New York and New Jersey) in April 2026, extending the platform’s reach across the broader tri-state commercial HVAC and controls market.

EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME). Publicly traded mechanical and electrical services contractor, not PE-backed. Operates EMCOR Services New York / New Jersey, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary established in 1966, providing commercial HVAC, mechanical, and total facilities management services across the NYC metropolitan area. EMCOR is among the most established strategic acquirers in the New York commercial services market.

These are publicly active acquirers in New York disclosed via press releases and sponsor portfolio pages. The phrase “publicly active acquirers” is precise: we are referencing platforms with documented New York deal flow in the public record, not asserting any current advisory relationship between CT Acquisitions and any named entity.

New York Deal Velocity and Buyer Density

The IBBA Market Pulse and Capstone Partners 2024-2025 middle-market survey both place New York within the Northeast region for regional deal-flow tracking, but the state’s actual buyer pool is functionally national. NYC-based PE funds, family offices, and search-fund investor groups deploy capital across all 50 states; a meaningful fraction of LMM transactions in other states are bought by NYC-headquartered institutional capital. The density works both directions for New York sellers: it produces the deepest buyer pool in the country for a New York-based business, and it also produces the most competitive sell-side advisor market in the country, which keeps sell-side fee pressure relatively high at the top of the LMM range. S&P Global Market Intelligence reported that global PE add-on transactions targeting HVAC service providers rose 88% year-over-year through June 2025, with New York-active platforms among the contributors to that volume in the residential and commercial services categories.

New York Tax and Regulatory Context for Business Sales

New York is one of the least tax-friendly states in the United States for a private business sale, particularly for sellers who are NYC residents. The state imposes a graduated personal income tax with nine brackets ranging from 4.0% at the bottom to 10.9% at the top, where the top rate applies to taxable income above $25,000,000. Capital gains are taxed as ordinary income at the same graduated rates, with no preferential treatment for long-term gains. New York City residents pay an additional city personal income tax with a top marginal rate of approximately 3.876%, producing a combined state plus city marginal rate of approximately 14.776% on capital gains before federal tax. Yonkers residents pay an additional resident surcharge of approximately 16.75% of state tax liability. Non-residents are not subject to NYC personal income tax on their New York-source income, but they remain subject to New York state tax on New York-source income.

The federal tax stack on top of New York is material. Federal long-term capital gains tax is 20% for high-income taxpayers, plus the 3.8% net investment income tax where applicable, for a federal marginal rate of 23.8%. Layered with New York state at 10.9% and NYC at 3.876%, an NYC-resident founder selling a business at a $20M capital gain faces an all-in marginal rate that can exceed 38% before deductions and credits. The combined burden is the highest in the country. Sellers should not assume the absence of preferential state capital gains treatment is a minor item; on a $20M gain, the New York state and NYC tax differential versus a no-state-tax state like Florida, Texas, or Washington runs to roughly $3M of additional tax for an NYC resident.

Common pre-close planning levers reviewed with qualified tax counsel. The major planning options for high-income New York sellers include: (i) establishing bona fide residency outside New York in advance of an LOI, with the caveat that the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance aggressively audits residency changes and the 183-day domicile rule is heavily litigated; (ii) Qualified Small Business Stock under IRC Section 1202, where New York conforms to federal QSBS treatment and allows up to $10M or 10x basis of gain on qualifying C-corp stock to be excluded at both the federal and New York state level; (iii) installment sale structures under IRC Section 453 to defer recognition; (iv) charitable remainder trusts and other deferral or step-up vehicles; (v) for pass-throughs, New York’s Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET) elective regime, which shifts state tax to the entity and generates a federal SALT workaround deduction. Asset versus stock structure has outsized impact in New York because there is no preferential capital-gains rate to dampen the difference between ordinary income and capital gains treatment. Tax planning prior to a New York business sale is a separate workstream from the M&A advisor’s role and should be engaged with qualified state and federal tax counsel at least 12 to 24 months before a planned transaction.

No State M&A Broker Exemption: General Business Law Article 23-A and the Martin Act

Unlike Florida, Texas, and a growing number of states, New York has not enacted a state-level M&A broker registration exemption. New York broker-dealer registration is governed by General Business Law (GBL) Article 23-A, with the registration provisions in Section 359-e and the exemption provisions in Section 359-f. Section 359-f provides narrow, transaction-specific exemptions (seasoned and listed securities, government securities, limited offerings to fewer than 41 offerees, employee stock purchase plans) but does not contain a category-wide M&A broker exemption analogous to the federal Exchange Act Section 15(b)(13) or the NASAA 2024 Model Rule. New York has not, as of the publication date of this page, adopted the NASAA Model Rule Exempting Certain Merger and Acquisition Brokers from Registration that was approved by NASAA on May 6, 2024.

The practical result is that M&A intermediaries operating in New York rely on the federal Section 15(b)(13) exemption for federal broker-dealer registration, and conduct New York transactions consistent with state law. The federal exemption is non-preemptive of state law by its own terms, meaning federal exemption does not displace any state registration regime that might otherwise apply. Registrants under Section 359-e generally must pass the Series 63 or Series 66 examination and submit fingerprints to the New York Department of State. Registration runs for four years per GBL Section 359-e(3)(c).

The Martin Act is the distinct enforcement risk worth understanding. Article 23-A of the New York General Business Law, principally Sections 352 and 353, is known as the Martin Act. Enacted in 1921, the Martin Act vests the New York Attorney General with exclusive authority to investigate and enforce fraud in the offer, sale, purchase, or advertisement of securities or commodities within or from New York. Several features make the Martin Act the most aggressive state securities enforcement statute in the country: (a) the Attorney General can proceed civilly or criminally; (b) for civil violations, the AG generally does not need to prove scienter (intent to defraud), only that a deceptive act or material omission occurred; (c) the AG has subpoena power without a pre-existing investigation predicate, meaning subpoenas can be issued before any formal complaint is filed; (d) remedies include restitution, disgorgement, injunctions, license revocations, and criminal referral. Even when an M&A intermediary qualifies for the federal Section 15(b)(13) exemption, that exemption does not preempt the Martin Act or GBL 359-e and 359-f. The New York Attorney General retains authority to pursue Martin Act fraud claims against any party that engages in deceptive practices in connection with a securities transaction occurring within or originating from New York, regardless of broker-dealer registration status.

Why this matters for New York sellers and buyers. The Martin Act creates a higher state-level enforcement floor than exists in nearly any other state. Material misrepresentations or omissions in a confidential information memorandum, in management presentations, in seller-disclosure schedules, or in negotiation correspondence can expose the seller, the buyer, and any intermediary to Martin Act civil or criminal exposure even where no federal violation occurred. Operating in New York with disciplined documentation, accurate financial representations, and complete disclosure is a practical risk-management issue, not just a regulatory formality. CT Acquisitions operates under the federal Section 15(b)(13) exemption and conducts New York transactions consistent with the Martin Act and applicable state law. We do not hold client funds. We do not engage in public-offering activity. We do not represent ourselves as a registered broker-dealer or registered investment bank.

New York Regional Deal Context by Metro and Industry

New York’s M&A activity concentrates in NYC and its boroughs but extends across distinct regional ecosystems with their own industry specializations. Understanding which buyer pools are most active in which regions materially affects the realistic outcome of any sale process. Below is the regional breakdown.

New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island)

NYC is the largest M&A market in the United States by deal volume and value. Dominant industries: financial services (Wall Street, asset management, alternatives, FinTech), professional services (consulting, accounting, legal services), media and publishing, technology and SaaS, advertising and marketing services, real estate services and PropTech, fashion and apparel, food service, and luxury retail. The headline transaction flow in NYC is upper-middle-market and large-cap, dominated by the bulge-bracket investment banks and Big Four corporate finance teams. The lower middle market in NYC is most active in services and B2B businesses where the typical $1M to $50M EBITDA seller is run by a founder or small ownership group and the advisor that fits the engagement is an M&A advisor rather than an investment bank. The buyer density in NYC is the deepest in the country: PE platforms, family offices, search funders, and strategic acquirers maintain offices or active deal teams in Manhattan.

Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties)

Long Island is a distinct LMM ecosystem with concentrations in residential and commercial HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other home services, specialty distribution, healthcare services, food manufacturing, and aerospace and defense subcontracting. Long Island businesses are commonly multi-generational family businesses, and sellers are frequently Baby Boomers exiting after long ownership tenures. Astra Service Partners added Air Comfort Service Group, a Long Island-based commercial HVAC operator serving all five boroughs and the greater NYC market, in March 2026, illustrating the active platform consolidation occurring in the Long Island commercial services category. The Long Island buyer pool draws from both NYC-based PE and family-office capital and from regional strategics with their own Long Island operating footprints.

Westchester County and the Lower Hudson Valley

Westchester is the high-net-worth founder zone of the New York metropolitan area. The county hosts substantial concentrations of single-family offices, wealth management and registered investment advisor practices, healthcare practices (dental, dermatology, ophthalmology, behavioral health, and ambulatory surgery), residential services, and specialty retail and food and beverage. Sila Services entered New York in 2021 with the acquisition of Astacio Plumbing & HVAC, which serves Westchester County and Fairfield County, Connecticut. PremiStar partnered with Trademark Mechanical in Elmsford in January 2025. Westchester sellers benefit from the densest concentration of family-office buyer capital in the country (Westchester plus the Connecticut Gold Coast plus the Hamptons plus Manhattan), and from active PE platform interest across the residential services categories.

Albany and the Capital Region

Albany concentrates state government services, healthcare and life sciences, semiconductor and advanced manufacturing (anchored by the GlobalFoundries cluster in Saratoga County), and residential services. Redwood Services invested in Crisafulli Bros., a third-generation Albany-based HVAC and plumbing company, anchoring the platform’s Upstate New York residential services footprint. The Capital Region produces steady mid-market deal flow rather than the high deal velocity of NYC, but the regional buyer pool includes both Upstate-active strategics and NYC-based PE platforms running Northeast roll-up theses.

Buffalo-Niagara

Buffalo concentrates manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and residential services. Sila Services entered Western New York in April 2024 with the acquisition of T-Mark Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric. The Western New York market is less saturated than the NYC metro for platform-backed consolidation, which can translate to less competitive bidding processes for sellers and higher buyer urgency for platforms building Western New York density.

Rochester

Rochester concentrates optics and imaging, precision manufacturing, healthcare and food processing. The Rochester market produces steady LMM deal flow in industrial services and manufacturing categories. Buyer interest is anchored by both Rochester-active strategics and PE platforms running national industrial and manufacturing roll-up theses.

Syracuse

Syracuse concentrates logistics, healthcare, defense, and residential services. Wrench Group acquired Falso Service Experts in Syracuse, providing residential HVAC and home services across Central and Upstate New York. Syracuse generates less disclosed deal density than NYC or Long Island but real activity in defense, healthcare, and regional services.

What to Look For in an M&A Advisor in New York (and Red Flags)

The New York M&A advisor and business broker market includes a wide range of quality. Some operators run rigorous, institutional-quality processes. Others functionally relist businesses on broker websites and wait for inbound. The seller (or buyer) needs to be able to distinguish between the two before signing anything. Below are the markers we would look for, and the red flags to avoid.

Green Flags

• Specific buyer references. The advisor can name actual PE platforms, family offices, or strategic acquirers they have worked with by name, with specific recent transactions in the seller’s industry. Generic “we have a network of hundreds of buyers” language without specifics is a warning sign.
• Industry-specific track record. The advisor has closed transactions in the seller’s industry within the last 24 months. M&A is industry-specific, and a strong home services advisor is not automatically a strong healthcare services advisor.
• Clear regulatory positioning. The advisor explicitly identifies the regulatory framework they operate under (federal M&A broker exemption, FINRA registration, etc.), discloses how they handle the Martin Act and New York state law overlay, and does not use the terms “M&A advisor” and “investment banker” interchangeably.
• Transparent fee disclosure. The advisor will tell you the fee structure in the first conversation, including retainer, success fee scale, and any other charges, without making the seller chase the information.
• Quantified buyer pool. The advisor can describe specifically how many buyers fit the seller’s profile, with rationale, rather than gesturing at “many interested parties.”
• Reasonable timing expectations. A credible sell-side advisor will quote 9 to 14 months end-to-end for a traditional process, or 4 to 7 months for a curated buyer-network-led process. Anyone quoting “we’ll have you closed in 60 days” on a traditional auction is overpromising.

Red Flags

• Pressure to sign immediately. Any advisor pressuring a founder to sign a 12 to 24 month exclusivity contract on the first or second call is optimizing for their own pipeline, not the seller’s outcome.
• Listing-style marketing. If the proposed marketing approach is to post the business on broker MLS sites, BizBuySell, or generic business-for-sale aggregators, the advisor is functioning as a Main Street broker, not an institutional-buyer-focused M&A advisor.
• No retainer transparency. Sell-side advisors who refuse to disclose retainer expectations in the first conversation are signaling fee opacity that will surface later in the engagement letter.
• “Confidential buyer list.” Any advisor claiming a secret buyer list that they will only share after the seller signs an exclusivity letter is selling air. Real buyer relationships should be specifically describable without naming names in the first call.
• Conflicts of interest. Some advisors collect fees from both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction without explicit disclosure. The dual-fee model is permissible with full written disclosure to all parties but problematic when undisclosed. In New York, undisclosed dual representation in a securities transaction can attract Martin Act exposure even where federal law would not.
• Inflated value indications. Any advisor promising a transaction multiple at the high end of the range without diligence-level financial analysis is producing a marketing number, not a valuation.

Fee Structures: Buy-Side vs Sell-Side in New York

M&A advisor fees in New York vary by side, deal size, advisor type, and engagement structure. The dominant fee model in lower middle market sell-side work is the modified Lehman scale, in which the success fee percentage steps down as deal size grows. The Lehman scale itself dates to the 1960s; modern “double Lehman” and “modified Lehman” variants are the current norm. New York fee levels at the top of the LMM range often run higher than the national average because NYC investment-banking-grade engagements anchor the local market and feed advisor pricing expectations across the state. Below is the structural breakdown.

Sell-Side Fee Structures

The classic sell-side M&A advisor or business broker engagement in New York includes three components.

• Retainer. $25,000 to $100,000+ at engagement signing, sometimes credited against the success fee at close, sometimes not. Larger investment-banking-grade engagements ($25M+ EBITDA) in the NYC market can see retainers of $100,000 to $250,000 or higher.
• Success fee. 3% to 10% of total transaction value at close, often on a Lehman or modified Lehman scale. A common modified Lehman structure: 10% on the first $1M, 8% on the second $1M, 6% on the third $1M, 4% on the fourth $1M, 2% on everything above $4M, with a minimum total fee floor (often $150K to $300K).
• Expenses. Travel, third-party costs, legal coordination, sometimes capped, sometimes not.

For a $20M New York sell-side transaction at a representative modified Lehman scale, the success fee runs $700K to $1.2M. Add the retainer and expenses and the all-in cost to the seller is typically $750K to $1.4M.

Buy-Side Fee Structures

Buy-side engagements differ in three ways. First, the client is the buyer, not the seller. Second, the engagement typically involves sourcing multiple potential targets over a defined mandate period, not selling a single business. Third, the fee structure usually involves both retainer and success fee, with the retainer often crediting against future success fees.

• Retainer. Monthly retainer ranging from $5,000 to $25,000+ depending on mandate scope and exclusivity.
• Success fee. 1% to 5% of transaction value per closed acquisition, often on a Lehman or modified Lehman scale similar to sell-side but at a lower absolute percentage because the buy-side mandate generates multiple closings per year on a successful platform engagement.
• Mandate exclusivity. Exclusive mandates (one advisor sourcing for one platform in a defined geography and industry) command higher retainers; non-exclusive mandates command lower retainers but lower priority.

CT Acquisitions’ Fee Structure

CT Acquisitions operates a buyer-paid model on the sell-side, which means the seller’s fee is $0. The buyer pays our fee at close. The buyer-side fee is structured per engagement type. For sourced add-on acquisitions, our fee is paid at close on a percentage of transaction value, typically in the 1% to 3% range depending on deal size and mandate exclusivity. For dedicated buy-side mandates with a named acquirer, we structure as retainer plus success fee on a modified Lehman scale. The exact economics are scoped in the buy-side engagement letter.

For New York sellers, the practical implication is straightforward. Working with us costs the seller nothing. Working with a traditional sell-side New York M&A advisor or business broker costs the seller 3% to 10% of transaction value plus retainer. The trade-off is process scope: traditional sell-side runs broad competitive auctions; our model runs curated buyer-network introductions. For founders who fit the model, the seller-side economics are materially different.

M&a Advisor in New York: Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a business broker and an M&A advisor in New York?

A New York business broker typically serves Main Street deals under $5M in enterprise value, operates through listing-style marketing on platforms like BizBuySell, and represents seller-side only with a 5% to 12% success fee. An M&A advisor serves lower middle market deals in the $1M to $50M EBITDA range, runs targeted institutional-buyer outreach, and operates under the federal M&A broker exemption (Exchange Act Section 15(b)(13)) with the Martin Act and New York General Business Law Article 23-A applying in parallel because New York has not adopted a state-level M&A broker exemption. The advisor’s buyer pool is institutional (PE platforms, family offices, search funds, strategic acquirers); the broker’s buyer pool is local owner-operators and first-time business buyers.

Can I sell my New York business without paying a sell-side fee?

Yes, in some cases. The CT Acquisitions model is buyer-paid. The buyer pays our fee at close and the seller pays nothing. There is no engagement letter, no retainer, no exclusivity period, and no obligation to engage. The model is not a fit for every seller (sellers in the $20M+ EBITDA range running formal competitive auctions often still benefit from traditional sell-side representation), but for founders open to a buyer-network-led process, the seller-side economics are zero.

How long does a New York M&A process take from start to close?

A traditional New York sell-side auction typically runs 9 to 14 months end to end. A buyer-network-led curated process runs 4 to 7 months end to end (30 to 60 days to LOI, then 60 to 120 days to close). Variations depend on diligence complexity, regulatory approvals, and third-party financing.

How does the Martin Act affect M&A advisors in New York?

The Martin Act (General Business Law Article 23-A, principally Sections 352 and 353) gives the New York Attorney General the broadest fraud-enforcement authority of any state regulator in the United States. The AG can proceed civilly or criminally, generally does not need to prove scienter for civil violations (only that a deceptive act or material omission occurred), has subpoena power without a pre-existing investigation predicate, and can seek restitution, disgorgement, injunctions, and license revocations. The federal Section 15(b)(13) M&A broker exemption does not preempt the Martin Act. The practical implication for advisors and sellers is that disciplined documentation, accurate financial representations, and complete disclosure in a New York transaction are not just regulatory formalities but practical risk-management measures.

What is an LOI?

A Letter of Intent captures the key economic terms of a proposed transaction before confirmatory diligence and definitive documentation. Typical contents: purchase price, deal structure (asset vs. stock), working capital target, cash and debt-free assumptions, rollover equity, earnouts, employment terms, exclusivity period (60 to 90 days typical), and conditions to close. Economic terms are generally non-binding; exclusivity and confidentiality are binding. Strong LOIs leave less room for retrading at close.

What is a Quality of Earnings (QoE) report?

A Quality of Earnings (QoE) report is a third-party financial diligence document, typically produced by an accounting firm specializing in transaction services, that normalizes target EBITDA and validates revenue and cost mechanics. QoEs adjust for owner add-backs, one-time items, customer or vendor concentration, and working capital trends. Buyers nearly always require a QoE for LMM transactions. Sell-side QoEs (commissioned by the seller before market) typically cost $30K to $100K.

Does New York tax capital gains on the sale of a business?

Yes. New York taxes capital gains as ordinary income at graduated state rates from 4.0% up to 10.9% (top bracket on income above $25M). New York City residents pay an additional city tax with a top marginal rate of approximately 3.876%, for a combined state plus city marginal rate of approximately 14.776% on capital gains before federal tax. Federal long-term capital gains tax (20% high-income, plus 3.8% NIIT where applicable) is additive. The combined burden is the highest in the United States.

Is New York’s high state tax a reason to time a sale differently?

Timing alone rarely changes the New York state tax outcome on a single transaction, because New York taxes capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income and the top brackets apply uniformly across years. The exception is multi-year installment sale structures under IRC Section 453, which can spread recognition across years and may also be combined with a residency change, but the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance scrutinizes installment-plus-residency-change combinations carefully. The bigger timing decision is usually capital structure (asset vs. stock, ordinary vs. capital character of consideration) and pre-close planning at least 12 to 24 months in advance, not the choice of transaction year. This is a question for qualified tax counsel, not an M&A advisor.

Should a New York seller consider moving residence before a sale?

Establishing bona fide residency outside New York before an LOI can eliminate state and NYC tax exposure on a capital gain, with the savings on a $20M gain running to approximately $3M for an NYC resident relocating to a no-state-tax state. The execution is harder than the math implies. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance aggressively audits residency changes and the 183-day domicile rule is heavily litigated. Successful residency changes require a real change of facts, including primary home, business and professional ties, voter registration, vehicle registration, and where the taxpayer actually spends the majority of the year. Sellers considering a residency change for tax planning purposes should engage qualified state and federal tax counsel at least 12 to 24 months before a planned transaction.

Does New York conform to QSBS Section 1202?

Yes. New York conforms to federal Qualified Small Business Stock treatment under IRC Section 1202. A New York seller of qualifying C-corp stock held more than five years can exclude up to $10M or 10x the basis of gain at both the federal and New York state level. QSBS conformity is one of the most valuable available tax tools for New York founders because it can effectively zero out state tax on a qualifying capital gain. Eligibility requires careful structuring at incorporation and through the holding period, and pre-close diligence on QSBS qualification should be coordinated with qualified tax counsel.

Do M&A advisors in New York need a FINRA license?

Not at the federal level under the federal M&A broker exemption. Exchange Act Section 15(b)(13) (effective March 29, 2023) exempts M&A brokers from broker-dealer registration when facilitating ownership transfers of eligible privately held companies (prior-year EBITDA below $25M or revenue below $250M), subject to no-fund-custody and no-public-offering conditions. New York has not adopted a state-level M&A broker exemption, so intermediaries operating in the state must also conduct themselves consistent with General Business Law Article 23-A (the Martin Act) and Sections 359-e and 359-f. Advisors operating outside the federal exemption (e.g., on transactions above the federal $25M EBITDA / $250M revenue thresholds with securities-related steps) often hold FINRA Series 79 or 82 licenses and may also be registered with the New York Attorney General as broker-dealers under Section 359-e.

Which NYC-area PE platforms are most active in lower middle market home services?

The most consistently disclosed-active platforms with New York operating footprints in residential and commercial services include Sila Services (Goldman Sachs Alternatives backing, operating in Westchester via Astacio and Western New York via T-Mark), Redwood Services (OMERS backing, Albany via Crisafulli Bros.), Wrench Group (Leonard Green & Partners backing, Syracuse via Falso Service Experts), Astra Service Partners (Alpine Investors via Orion Group, Long Island via Air Comfort Service Group), PremiStar (Partners Group backing, NYC via Trademark Mechanical and Hudson Valley via Armistead Mechanical), and EMCOR Group (publicly traded NYSE: EME, operating EMCOR Services New York / New Jersey since 1966). None of these platforms is headquartered in New York at the parent level, but all have active New York operating footprints with disclosed transactions in the 2021-2026 window.

What multiples do New York lower middle market businesses sell for?

Multiples vary widely by industry, size, profitability, recurring revenue mix, customer concentration, and growth profile. Per the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets 2025 report and GF Data Q4 2024 benchmarks: residential home services platforms in the $2M to $5M EBITDA range cluster at 5x to 8x EBITDA; healthcare services and specialty pharmacy at 6x to 12x EBITDA; B2B services and distribution at 5x to 9x EBITDA; specialty construction and engineering at 4.8x to 7.5x EBITDA. Add-on tuck-ins below $1M EBITDA cluster at 3x to 5x EBITDA. Platform-quality businesses with $5M+ EBITDA, recurring revenue, and clean financials command the upper end. New York-based businesses often command a small premium relative to the national average within the same industry band due to NYC buyer density and competitive bidding, though the premium can be offset on a net-of-tax basis by the state and city tax stack for New York-resident sellers.

How does a buy-side M&A engagement work?

The buyer engages the advisor under an engagement letter defining mandate scope (industry, geography, deal size, exclusivity), retainer structure (monthly or quarterly), and success fee per closed transaction. The advisor sources qualified targets, screens for fit, introduces, and supports through LOI and close. Mandate periods are typically 12 to 24 months with renewal options. Proprietary outbound sourcing commands higher fees than auction-style bid management.

Should I take rollover equity in the sale of my New York business?

Rollover equity is a retained minority stake in the post-close entity, typically 10% to 30%. PE platforms commonly require it for seller alignment and capital efficiency. Rollover is highly value-accretive if the platform resells at a higher multiple in 5 to 7 years (historical PE pattern), value-destructive if the platform stumbles. Decision depends on the seller’s risk tolerance, liquidity needs, and post-close operating commitment. New York sellers should also coordinate rollover structuring with state tax planning, because rollover into qualifying QSBS-eligible C-corp equity can extend Section 1202 benefits forward.

How confidential is a New York M&A process?

Confidentiality is structurally manageable but not absolute. Traditional broad-auction processes touch 60 to 200+ potential buyers, each of whom is under NDA but each of whom is also a potential leak point (employees, advisors, competitive intelligence). Curated buyer-network processes touch 5 to 25 parties and leak materially less. Internally, deal teams are typically limited to the founder, the CFO or trusted financial lead, and outside counsel until the LOI is signed. In New York, the Martin Act adds an additional incentive to keep diligence representations and management presentations tightly documented, because deceptive disclosures can attract AG enforcement even where federal law would not.

Is hiring a New York-based M&A advisor better than a national firm?

Not necessarily. Geographic location matters less than buyer-pool fit, industry expertise, and process quality. A New York-based advisor with deep NYC institutional relationships may be the right choice for an NYC services seller. A national-firm advisor with deep residential services platform relationships may be the right choice for a Long Island or Upstate New York home services seller. The right framing is buyer access and industry specialization, not advisor location.

Want to Hire an M&A Advisor in New York?

The decision to engage an M&A advisor is rarely urgent until it is. Most New York founders and acquirers benefit from at least one exploratory conversation 12 to 24 months before a planned transaction, even if the transaction is hypothetical at that stage. The 30-minute conversation costs nothing and clarifies the realistic buyer pool, the likely multiple range, and the structural decisions (rollover, residency and tax positioning, transaction timing, QSBS eligibility, PTET election) that need to be in motion before the formal process begins.

For buy-side acquirers in New York. If you are a PE platform building add-on density, a family office sourcing direct acquisitions, a search fund operator targeting a New York acquisition, or a strategic acquirer with a defined platform thesis, we scope buy-side mandates on a retainer-plus-success-fee basis. Mandate scoping calls are confidential and free.

For sell-side founders in New York. If you are a New York founder of a $1M to $50M EBITDA business considering an exit in the next 6 to 36 months, the buyer-paid model costs you nothing to explore. There is no engagement letter, no retainer, no exclusivity period, and no obligation to engage. A 30-minute confidential call gives you a specific read on the realistic buyer pool for your business and a starting-point view of likely multiple range.

Sources and References

Regulatory and statutory sources.

• New York General Business Law Article 23-A (the Martin Act), Sections 352, 353, 359-e, 359-f. New York State Senate. nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GBS/A23-A
• New York Attorney General, Investor Protection Bureau, Broker-Dealer and Securities Registration Information. ag.ny.gov/resources/government-organizations/investments-registration-regulation
• Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 15(b)(13), Federal M&A Broker Registration Exemption (effective March 29, 2023). Codified via Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (H.R. 2617). Non-preemptive of state law.
• SEC Division of Trading and Markets, M&A broker exemption guidance. sec.gov/divisions/marketreg
• NASAA Model Rule Exempting Certain Merger and Acquisition Brokers from Registration (adopted May 6, 2024; not yet adopted by New York as of publication date).
• New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, personal income tax tables and corporate franchise tax (Article 9-A). tax.ny.gov
• New York Department of State, Division of Corporations. dos.ny.gov

Market data and benchmarks.

• IBBA Market Pulse Q4 2025. International Business Brokers Association and M&A Source. ibba.org/resource-center/industry-research
• Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report 2025. Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. bschool.pepperdine.edu/pcmsurvey
• GF Data Q4 2024 Valuation Report. GF Data Resources LLC. gfdata.com
• Capstone Partners 2024-2025 Middle-Market Survey. capstonepartners.com/insights
• S&P Global Market Intelligence PE Add-On Reporting H1 2025. spglobal.com/marketintelligence

New York-active platform primary sources.

• Sila Services Astacio Plumbing & HVAC acquisition (2021, Westchester / Fairfield CT). silaservices.com
• Sila Services T-Mark Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric acquisition (April 2024, Buffalo). silaservices.com
• Redwood Services Crisafulli Bros. investment release (Albany). redwoodservices.com
• Wrench Group brand portfolio listing including Falso Service Experts (Syracuse). wrenchgroup.com
• Astra Service Partners Air Comfort Service Group press release (March 2026, Long Island and NYC). morningstar.com
• PremiStar Trademark Mechanical partnership (January 2025, Elmsford NY). premistar.com
• PremiStar Armistead Mechanical partnership (April 2026, Hudson Valley NY and NJ). newswire.com
• EMCOR Services New York / New Jersey, Inc. corporate site. emcorservicesnynj.com
• EMCOR Group, Inc. SEC filings (NYSE: EME), Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. emcorgroup.com

Industry and trade press.

• PE Hub, PrivSource, Bloomberg, S&P Global Market Intelligence, BusinessWire, PR Newswire, GlobeNewswire.
• ACHR News, Contracting Business, HVACR Business, Plumbing & Mechanical, phcppros.

Disclaimer

This page is informational only. Nothing on this page constitutes investment advice, legal advice, tax advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any business or security. CT Strategic Partners LLC (operating as CT Acquisitions) is not a registered broker-dealer and is not a registered investment adviser. CT Acquisitions operates under the federal M&A broker registration exemption provided by Section 15(b)(13) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. New York has not enacted a state-level M&A broker exemption; New York General Business Law Article 23-A (the Martin Act) and the broker-dealer registration regime under Sections 359-e and 359-f apply to securities transactions occurring within or originating from New York regardless of federal exemption status. CT Acquisitions does not hold client funds or securities and does not engage in public-offering activity.

Mention of any sponsor, platform, or transaction in this article reflects publicly disclosed activity only. Inclusion does not imply any current or prior advisory relationship between CT Strategic Partners LLC and the named entity, nor any endorsement of the named entity by CT Strategic Partners LLC. References to “publicly active acquirers in New York” describe disclosure activity in the public record, not mandate relationships. Any business sale, acquisition, or related transaction decision should be made with the assistance of qualified M&A counsel, tax advisors, and where applicable, registered investment-banking or licensed brokerage representation.

Statutory references reflect the law as of May 17, 2026. Statutes, regulations, and exemption thresholds may change, and the New York State Legislature periodically considers M&A broker exemption proposals that have not been enacted as of publication. This page will be updated periodically.