Has anyone searched for businesses in Ontario/Quebec (Canada)?

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January 25, 2019

by a searcher from Concordia University - John Molson School of Business in Montreal, QC, Canada

I was at the Search Fund Conference at HBS last December and realized how sophisticated the Search Fund concept was in the US compared to Canada. I was wondering what intermediaries for sourcing potential deals are more useful in Canada given the less-known concept. Small accounting/law firms, commercial banker, etc? Thanks in advance.

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Reply by a searcher
from McGill University
Kevin - the search fund concept is well known in Canada and in Toronto in particular. Most intermediaries are familiar with the concept (although they’re often wary of working with searchers).

There have been perhaps###-###-#### search fund deals that have closed that I’m aware of. I’ve met with six people in January alone who were inquiring about raising a fund and there are a lot of people searching in the GTA, funded and self-funded. I would also note that many US searchers are bidding on Canadian businesses and reaching out to Canadian business owners as well.

There is a lot of capital floating around in the lower mid-market in Canada so I wouldn’t underestimate the difficulty in finding a deal here. I’d be happy to give you my experience if you’re interested - feel free to PM me.
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Reply by a searcher
from Université Laval in Montreal, QC, Canada
It seems that the link above is broken. Wondering if search fund popularity is increasing in Quebec. I just came back from a week in Babson college where we discussed ETA and it clicked with me. I am now exploring options here around Montreal. I saw a few search fund and a few searchers but it obviously doesn’t seem as developed as in the US.
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