M&A Advisor Podcast

Live from the 2026 Distressed Investing Summit Deal Forum at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, this fireside chat digs into distressed and opportunistic M&A through the lens of one of the most complex deals in recent auto industry history: Key Safety Systems' acquisition of Takata, the airbag supplier behind one of the largest product recalls in consumer history.

Featuring:

• Ron E. Meisler — Partner, Corporate Restruct...

Live from the 2026 Distressed Investing Summit Deal Forum at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, The M&A Advisor brings you a fireside-chat luncheon conversation honoring three titans of restructuring: a Lifetime Achievement Award for David Kurtz and Leadership Awards for Kevyn Orr and James Doak. Moderated by Jack Butler (Founder & CEO, Birch Lake Holdings), the panel trades war stories spanning five decades of dealmaking ...

A fireside chat from the 2026 Distressed Investing Summit (Deal Forum, Four Seasons Resort, Palm Beach, FL).When the White House flipped the switch on green energy incentives, more than $24 billion of clean energy deals were canceled almost overnight, and the tax equity capital that funded the sector dried up. In this conversation, a veteran restructuring lawyer walks through one of the most remarkable cases of the cycle: a global ...

A fireside chat from the 2026 Distressed Investing Summit (Deal Forum, Four Seasons Resort, Palm Beach, FL).Private credit grew from near zero to roughly $3 trillion in a decade. Now retail money is heading for the exits, firms are putting up gates, and the system has never been tested by a real credit cycle. In this wide ranging conversation, two of restructuring's most experienced voices unpack what is actually happening under th...

No industry is safe and no company is safe. In this candid panel, a real estate advisor, an investment banker, an independent director, and a restructuring attorney break down what is actually driving distress right now: post Covid hangovers masked by cheap credit, tariff and AI uncertainty, the war in Iran, and a wave of liability management deals that increasingly end in lender on lender litigation. They demystify the LME toolkit...

A fireside chat from the 2026 Distressed Investing Summit (Deal Forum, Four Seasons Resort, Palm Beach, FL).

When a business hits distress, the panic is immediate. Nobody knows how much cash is left, who's in charge, or what they owe. In this candid panel, a CRO, an investment banker, a private equity buyer, and a restructuring attorney break down how to keep a company running while you sell it, and how to find the value hidden insi...

The private credit market has exploded — and so has the risk hiding inside it.

12% of private credit loans are now PIK. 40% of borrowers have negative cash flow. And $700 billion was raised in just the last two years alone.

In this Fireside Chat from the M&A Advisor's 2026 Distressed Investing Summit, a powerhouse panel breaks down how lenders can protect themselves before a deal goes sideways — and what to do when it...

What does it take to win in the most complex deals on Wall Street — and in life?

In this Fireside Chat from the M&A Advisor's 2026 Distressed Investing Summit, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross joins Evan Hill, Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, for a rare and candid conversation drawing from decades of high-stakes dealmaking.

Wilbur breaks down the difference between apparent risk and actual risk, why he w...

Boards, founders, and deal teams are moving faster than ever—but speed without structure can derail even the strongest transaction. In this episode, Tonya Mitchem Grindon, Shareholder and Chairperson of the Business Department at Baker Donelson, joins Brock Niezgoda, Partner and Corporate/M&A Practice Leader at Gray Reed, and Jonathan Lazarow, Founding Partner of Ambrose Lazarow PLLC, to unpack how corporate governance sh...

In this episode, we sit down with Brent Baxter, CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), to break down what’s really happening in the middle market M&A landscape.

From rising deal flow and extended private equity hold periods to the growing role of AI in value creation, Brent shares insider insights backed by decades of experience and data from across the dealmaking ecosystem.

We explore why 2026 is shaping up to ...

Closing a transaction in today's volatile market requires more than just a willing buyer and seller—it demands a relentless commitment to execution. In this episode, a panel of seasoned experts, including Tom Goldblatt, Derek Swanson, and Steven Nigro reveal the unvarnished truths of getting deals across the finish line.  

From managing "deal fatigue" and screaming sellers to building institutional-gra...

Founders and boutique owners often fear that selling to a global giant means losing the culture and quality that made them successful. In this episode, Chip Register, CEO of Arno, explains how his "super boutique" model uses a "do no harm" integration strategy to reach $1 billion in revenue.  

Learn how to use the "Four Cs" framework—Completeness, Connectedness, Claim, and Quality—to identify&nbs...

In a transaction environment defined by regulatory shifts and economic uncertainty, data-driven intelligence is the only path to certainty. Joe Mantone, U.S. Financial Institutions News Desk Manager at S&P Global Market Intelligence, delivers a sober, evidence-based assessment of the 2025 M&A landscape.  

This masterclass for Founders, PE partners, and corporate leaders reveals why total global deal value has surge...

Before focusing solely on operational checkboxes and financial due diligence, dealmakers often found their integrations derailed by cultural friction and unforeseen crises; however, after adopting Shawn Whiteside and Corey Massella’s leadership-first framework, they can build the trust and resilience necessary to protect deal value and navigate any post-close storm. 

In this masterclass on leadership and resilience, Shawn...

Middle-market dealmakers now face aggressive 30-day sprints instead of 60-day windows. In this episode from the 2025 LID Summit, Dan Lee, Marc McCabe, Jeffrey Michelson, and Erika Highland reveal how to protect value under extreme time pressure. Learn how AI-driven Quality of Earnings (QofE) and Reps & Warranties insurance bridge the indemnity gap.  

Discover why independent sponsors are the new power players...

Before achieving his greatest success, Ricardo Lacerda navigated the peak of global finance at Goldman Sachs and Citibank during historic world crises; however, after launching BR Partners in the wake of the 2009 financial collapse, he transformed from a corporate banker into the architect of Latin America’s leading independent investment bank.  

Ricardo Lacerda (Founder and CEO of BR Partners) joins Jack Butler to s...

In this special keynote from the 2025 FOD Summit, moderator Roger Ado sits down with a distinguished group of industry icons: the original Thomas Farrell Memorial Award Honorees. Featuring Jacob Voorhees (2025 Winner), David Deutsch, Tony Caudle, Bobby Blumenfeld, and Ramsey Goodrich, this conversation moves beyond the balance sheet to the human side of dealmaking. 

Discover the "dairy farm ethics" that drove Jacob Voorhees to ...

Is your deal team tracking the right metrics, or just the loudest ones? While financials tell part of the story, they often mask the "Inhomogeneous Structure" that devalues a target before the ink is dry. In this briefing, we deconstruct the operational roadmap required to bridge the gap between a "good" deal and a "great" one.

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Many investors find themselves caught between aggressive capital strategies and the slow friction of regulatory oversight. In this episode, Wilbur Ross—legendary restructuring expert and former US Secretary of Commerce—shares masterclass lessons from his memoir, Risks and Returns. Discover how to navigate the "speed gap" between private sector execution and government bureaucracy, and why mastering the "three buckets" o...