Dealmaking is alive and well in the lower middle market, as assistant managing editor Anthony Noto reports in this issue's cover story. For proof that the lower middle market is thriving, look no further than the first quarter of 2013. Thomson Reuters marked 432 transactions with values of $1 billion and under in the quarter. A full 367 of those middle-market deals, or nearly 85 percent, were valued at $250 million or less. Cleveland's Evolution Capital Partners, cofounded by Jeffrey Kadlic, who appears on our cover, is one of many private equity firms succeeding with small deals.

At the other end of the spectrum, David Rubenstein, co-CEO and co-founder of the Carlyle Group LP (Nasdaq: CG), talks about the challenges big PE firms in Noto's story, "Far Cry from the Glory Days."

For a look at a subsector that's percolating, see "Medical Devices Drive Health Care M&A," by contributing editor Danielle Fugazy.

And for our increasing distressed investing coverage, read a trio of stories by reporter Allison Collins: "Finance Finesse: Marine Shippers Aim to Stay Afloat," "TranSwitch Sees Success in Secondary Offering" and "Remark Media Refocuses on Young Adults." Collins also provides a list of companies that have recently indicated doubt about continuing as going concerns in SEC filings, in "Distressed Company Watch."

You'll also find highlights of ACG InterGrowth 2013, which roughly 2,000 dealmakers attended in Orlando, Fla. Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) spoke about their latest plan to trim the national debt, and Bowles recalled some of the middle market's earliest days when he co-founded boutique investment bank Bowles Hollowell & Conner Co. back in 1975. Read "Two Wise Men with a Plan" in this issue and point your browswer to http://www.themiddlemarket. com/video to watch video interviews with Simpson and Bowles and other InterGrowth participants, such as ACG chairman Charles Morton, CEO Gary LaBranche, the Riverside Co.'s Pam Hendrickson, Huron Capital Partners' Gretchen Perkins and Holland & Knight LLP's Bradley Van Buren.

Also, be sure to check out our photo gallery by photographer Jacob Slaton from the conference in "M&A Scene" in this issue and on our website.

For more ACG news, take a look at "Meet 6 South Central ACG Chapters," in which we highlight regional chapters and events, such as the 5th Annual ACG MidSouth Capital Connection June 13-14.

Mary Kathleen Flynn

Editor-in-Chief

Mergers & Acquisitions | TheMiddleMarket.com