CA · 4,286 financed acquisitions
$4.7bnCapital deployed
Business acquisitions in California
4,286 businesses in California changed hands with SBA 7(a) acquisition financing since FY2019, carrying $4.7bn of bank debt between them. The median deal was financed with $625,000 over 10 years at 7.94%.
Volume and price
What businesses in California 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 = 4,286 financed acquisitions.
| Size band | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $250k | 745 | 17.4% |
| $250k to $500k | 1,033 | 24.1% |
| $500k to $1M | 1,019 | 23.8% |
| $1M to $2M | 771 | 18.0% |
| $2M to $3.5M | 421 | 9.8% |
| $3.5M to $5M | 200 | 4.7% |
| $5M and above | 97 | 2.3% |
| All | 4,286 | 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 | 363 | 8.5% |
| Exactly 10 years | The standard goodwill-only note | 3,001 | 70.0% |
| 10 to 20 years | Mixed collateral | 121 | 2.8% |
| 20 years and over | Real property financed with the business | 801 | 18.7% |
70.0% of loans here run exactly ten years and 18.7% run twenty years or more. n = 4,286 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.
Sectors in California
Sectors with enough local volume to report on their own. Each has its own page combining this state with that sector.
| Sector | Acquisitions | Capital | Median loan | Median rate | Median term | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44-45 Retail Trade | 1,144 | $1.2bn | $630,250 | 7.50% | 10 years | 9.5% |
| 72 Accommodation and Food Services | 868 | $888M | $453,000 | 7.75% | 10 years | 11.1% |
| 62 Health Care and Social Assistance | 429 | $507M | $830,000 | 7.50% | 10 years | 7.9% |
| 81 Other Services (except Public Administration) | 412 | $435M | $540,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 12.0% |
| 54 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 311 | $336M | $695,000 | 8.50% | 10 years | 6.6% |
| 23 Construction | 232 | $292M | $808,800 | 8.50% | 10 years | 12.8% |
| 31-33 Manufacturing | 223 | $308M | $935,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 10.4% |
| 56 Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services | 199 | $163M | $441,500 | 8.50% | 10 years | 7.0% |
| 42 Wholesale Trade | 103 | $160M | $1,000,000 | 8.25% | 10 years | 12.0% |
| 48-49 Transportation and Warehousing | 97 | $130M | $999,900 | 7.75% | 10 years | 15.7% |
| 52 Finance and Insurance | 67 | $79.8M | $730,000 | 7.50% | 10 years | 10.7% |
| 53 Real Estate and Rental and Leasing | 62 | $62.6M | $509,000 | 7.20% | 10 years | 10.1% |
| 71 Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation | 53 | $49.9M | $502,700 | 8.30% | 10 years | 17.2% |
| 61 Educational Services | 49 | $50.0M | $645,000 | 8.18% | 10 years | 2.0% |
Counties in California
Counties with at least 30 financed acquisitions.
| County | Acquisitions | Capital | Median loan | Median rate | Median term | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 1,060 | $1.1bn | $550,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 11.2% |
| Orange | 456 | $448M | $540,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 12.1% |
| San Diego | 371 | $395M | $557,000 | 8.25% | 10 years | 10.4% |
| Riverside | 204 | $221M | $695,600 | 8.38% | 10 years | 9.7% |
| Santa Clara | 199 | $203M | $588,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 7.0% |
| San Bernardino | 198 | $235M | $638,750 | 7.75% | 10 years | 7.0% |
| Sacramento | 186 | $249M | $676,800 | 8.12% | 10 years | 7.9% |
| Alameda | 179 | $195M | $625,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 9.6% |
| Contra Costa | 108 | $116M | $722,500 | 7.25% | 10 years | 10.0% |
| Sonoma | 107 | $93.6M | $450,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 7.0% |
| Ventura | 89 | $85.5M | $564,000 | 7.75% | 10 years | 14.4% |
| Kern | 88 | $140M | $967,950 | 7.75% | 20 years | 2.2% |
| Fresno | 84 | $109M | $810,500 | 8.25% | 10 years | 9.7% |
| Placer | 79 | $76.3M | $685,000 | 7.50% | 10 years | 13.2% |
| San Joaquin | 67 | $109M | $945,000 | 7.25% | 16 years | 6.9% |
| Monterey | 66 | $61.9M | $425,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 7.0% |
| San Luis Obispo | 66 | $68.1M | $601,000 | 7.62% | 10 years | 8.3% |
| San Francisco | 65 | $69.4M | $522,300 | 7.50% | 10 years | 7.1% |
| San Mateo | 55 | $53.9M | $500,000 | 8.50% | 10 years | 16.7% |
| Santa Barbara | 50 | $58.1M | $500,000 | 7.50% | 10 years | 15.3% |
| Solano | 48 | $64.6M | $868,000 | 8.75% | 10 years | 9.4% |
| Stanislaus | 46 | $54.4M | $821,650 | 7.75% | 10 years | 16.4% |
| El Dorado | 44 | $49.4M | $728,500 | 7.50% | 10 years | 8.3% |
| Tulare | 35 | $63.2M | $943,400 | 8.00% | 10 years | 5.4% |
| Shasta | 32 | $37.3M | $600,600 | 7.50% | 10 years | 8.6% |
| Marin | 32 | $34.3M | $736,500 | 6.75% | 10 years | 11.1% |
Who lends here
| Lender | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Live Oak Banking Company | 518 | 12.1% |
| Open Bank | 212 | 4.9% |
| Bank of Hope | 208 | 4.9% |
| Plumas Bank | 182 | 4.2% |
| Celtic Bank Corporation | 173 | 4.0% |
| Commonwealth Business Bank | 153 | 3.6% |
| Hanmi Bank | 149 | 3.5% |
| U.S. Bank | 145 | 3.4% |
| Columbia Bank | 107 | 2.5% |
| CDC Small Business Finance Corp | 106 | 2.5% |
| Industry group | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 7225 Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 683 | 15.9% |
| 4453 Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers | 326 | 7.6% |
| 4451 Grocery and Convenience Retailers | 228 | 5.3% |
| 8111 Automotive Repair and Maintenance | 189 | 4.4% |
| 7211 Traveler Accommodation | 135 | 3.1% |
| 5412 Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services | 123 | 2.9% |
| 4571 Gasoline Stations | 119 | 2.8% |
| 6233 Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly | 104 | 2.4% |
| 5617 Services to Buildings and Dwellings | 102 | 2.4% |
| 4471 Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores | 99 | 2.3% |
Elsewhere
If you are selling
Thinking about selling
The figures above describe businesses in California at the size the 7(a) programme reaches. They describe a market, not your business. FIH advises owners of privately held companies on sale processes, and the first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
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Figures on this page are SBA loan amounts, not sale prices. Nothing on this site is an offer, a solicitation, a valuation of any business, or investment advice, and no statement here promises a transaction, a price or a result.