There are excellent responses here. If you would indulge me... I actually worked a deal, where I represented the sell side. The process in place was (1) Teaser 5 pages with relevant information, (2) NDA + non-refundable deposit of money + proof of capital in order to receive (3) The CIM. I believe we were able to do this because the client wanted to cover the costs of the retainer phase of the assignment...and the deal was so popular, meaning that everything comes down to supply & demand. We received 15 submissions and three made it to the next round. Supply and Demand. But definitely a rare situation. Happy M&A!

Update: Unfortunately, I was added to the broker's newsletter mailing list. In the newsletter, one of the items every buyer should be prepared to share with a business owner was, you guessed it, a pre-qual letter from a lender. I unsubscribed.

Thank you everyone for your input. The LMM M&A process is unfortunately broken. I say that as a former bulge bracket banker and buyer/seller for a PE portfolio company. There's a reason IB's have analysts and associates to handle NDA, CIM, and information requests.