IL · 103 financed acquisitions
$119MCapital deployed
Lake County, Illinois
103 businesses here were bought with SBA 7(a) acquisition financing since FY2019, carrying $119M of bank debt. The median deal was financed with $755,500 over 10 years at 7.75%.
Volume and price
What businesses in Lake County financed by an SBA 7(a) acquisition loan actually cost, and how many of them there were.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level extract, change-of-ownership approvals, FY2019 onward. Data as of 30 June 2026. n = 103 financed acquisitions.
| Size band | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $250k | 17 | 16.5% |
| $250k to $500k | 25 | 24.3% |
| $500k to $1M | 22 | 21.4% |
| $1M to $2M | 20 | 19.4% |
| $2M to $3.5M | 11 | 10.7% |
| $3.5M to $5M | 8 | 7.8% |
| $5M and above | 0 | 0.0% |
| All | 103 | 100.0% |
The 7(a) programme caps a single loan at $5M, so the top band is a ceiling of the instrument, not of the market. Deals above it are financed conventionally and do not appear in this file at all.
How the paper was structured
Loan terms here are not spread smoothly. They spike at exactly ten years and again at exactly twenty-five, with very little in between. Those two points are the programme's maturity ceilings, and which one applies depends on what secures the loan, so a term running past ten years indicates real property was financed alongside the business.
| Term | What it indicates | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 years | Shorter than the goodwill maximum | 11 | 10.7% |
| Exactly 10 years | The standard goodwill-only note | 59 | 57.3% |
| 10 to 20 years | Mixed collateral | 10 | 9.7% |
| 20 years and over | Real property financed with the business | 23 | 22.3% |
57.3% of loans here run exactly ten years and 22.3% run twenty years or more. n = 103 loans with a recorded term.
What happened next
Two outcomes are visible in the file: approvals that never funded, and funded loans that later charged off. Both are facts about deals, not forecasts.
The charge-off share is cumulative as of 30 June 2026 for loans approved in FY2019-FY2021. Those loans are five to seven years into terms that are usually ten years, so the figure is a floor and the lifetime rate will be higher. It is not comparable to a rate computed over a fully matured cohort, and the site does not publish one for later years for that reason.
By fiscal year
* FY2026 is incomplete. The extract closes 30 June 2026, nine months into a fiscal year that ends 30 September, and some FY2026 approvals have not yet disbursed. Do not read the last column as a decline.
What gets bought here
| Sector | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 72 Accommodation and Food Services | 22 | 21.4% |
| 44-45 Retail Trade | 21 | 20.4% |
| 81 Other Services (except Public Administration) | 10 | 9.7% |
| 23 Construction | 9 | 8.7% |
| 31-33 Manufacturing | 8 | 7.8% |
| 42 Wholesale Trade | 7 | 6.8% |
| 48-49 Transportation and Warehousing | 6 | 5.8% |
| 61 Educational Services | 4 | 3.9% |
| Industry group | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 7225 Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 11 | 10.7% |
| 7211 Traveler Accommodation | 9 | 8.7% |
| 4453 Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers | 8 | 7.8% |
| 4471 Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores | 4 | 3.9% |
| 6116 Other Schools and Instruction | 4 | 3.9% |
| 2382 Building Equipment Contractors | 4 | 3.9% |
| 8123 Drycleaning and Laundry Services | 3 | 2.9% |
| 4239 Miscellaneous Durable Goods Merchant Wholesalers | 3 | 2.9% |
| Lender | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| The Huntington National Bank | 12 | 11.7% |
| Live Oak Banking Company | 10 | 9.7% |
| Byline Bank | 10 | 9.7% |
| GBank | 7 | 6.8% |
| State Bank of the Lakes | 5 | 4.9% |
| Barrington Bank & Trust Company | 4 | 3.9% |
| CenTrust Bank, A Division of SmartBiz Bank | 3 | 2.9% |
| First Western SBLC | 3 | 2.9% |
Other counties in Illinois
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