The Importance of Networking, in the U.S. and Abroad

We all know how important networking is when it comes to deal making, and the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) is the best organization for networking in all aspects of middle market mergers and acquisitions, which the organization defines as businesses with revenues up to $400 million.

Networking through this organization comes in many forms – whether at any of the myriad of events put on by local chapters, such as ACG New York, or at the annual national ACG Intergrowth Conference – members will have more opportunities at these functions to meet like-minded middle market professionals than anywhere else. You may know this already.

What you may not know is that ACG can be a great door opener overseas.  ACG now has chapters in Holland, Spain, Austria, France, Germany, The U.K., Brazil and China, with more international chapters in development.  If you are travelling overseas and need introductions to the local middle market deal community, ACG’s international chapters are a great place to start.

To this end, ACG New York has set up an International Committee to help facilitate interaction between ACG members in the U.S. and ACG chapters overseas.  The Committee is headed by Tanya Horowitz, with Zee Weickowski, Harshad Khurjekar and myself as members.  We have loosely divided up the overseas chapters among ourselves, based on where our business travels take us.  For example, I stay in regular contact with the U.K. and Brazil chapters.  My firm has an office in Brazil, and ACG Brazil has been a great source of deal flow for our Latin American private equity fund.  We also recently had occasion to introduce ACG members in Brazil to ACG in the U.K.

I encourage all ACG members to take advantage of these international resources and opportunities. For anyone looking for introductions, members of ACG New York’s International Committee are happy to help! You can find our contact information in the member directory on the ACG New York website.

Steve Hindmarch is a Managing Director at Graycliff Partners, a middle market private equity firm as well as a an ACG New York board member.