KY · 378 financed acquisitions
$396MCapital deployed
Business acquisitions in Kentucky
378 businesses in Kentucky changed hands with SBA 7(a) acquisition financing since FY2019, carrying $396M of bank debt between them. The median deal was financed with $515,000 over 10 years at 7.75%.
Volume and price
What businesses in Kentucky 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 = 378 financed acquisitions.
| Size band | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $250k | 87 | 23.0% |
| $250k to $500k | 97 | 25.7% |
| $500k to $1M | 68 | 18.0% |
| $1M to $2M | 72 | 19.0% |
| $2M to $3.5M | 25 | 6.6% |
| $3.5M to $5M | 22 | 5.8% |
| $5M and above | 7 | 1.9% |
| All | 378 | 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 | 67 | 17.7% |
| Exactly 10 years | The standard goodwill-only note | 199 | 52.6% |
| 10 to 20 years | Mixed collateral | 30 | 7.9% |
| 20 years and over | Real property financed with the business | 82 | 21.7% |
52.6% of loans here run exactly ten years and 21.7% run twenty years or more. n = 378 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 Kentucky
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 Accommodation and Food Services | 83 | $121M | $875,000 | 7.00% | 15 years | 6.7% |
| 44-45 Retail Trade | 69 | $51.3M | $405,900 | 7.05% | 10 years | 2.8% |
| 23 Construction | 43 | $37.9M | $396,300 | 8.00% | 10 years | 2.3% |
| 81 Other Services (except Public Administration) | 39 | $32.6M | $420,000 | 7.75% | 10 years | 4.9% |
| 62 Health Care and Social Assistance | 35 | $44.1M | $646,000 | 7.75% | 10 years | 5.4% |
Counties in Kentucky
Counties with at least 30 financed acquisitions.
Who lends here
| Lender | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company | 50 | 13.2% |
| Community Trust Bank | 44 | 11.6% |
| The Huntington National Bank | 32 | 8.5% |
| Republic Bank & Trust Company | 32 | 8.5% |
| Live Oak Banking Company | 26 | 6.9% |
| GBank | 13 | 3.4% |
| Old National Bank | 12 | 3.2% |
| German American Bank | 10 | 2.6% |
| United Midwest Savings Bank | 8 | 2.1% |
| U.S. Bank | 7 | 1.9% |
| Industry group | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 7225 Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 42 | 11.1% |
| 7211 Traveler Accommodation | 33 | 8.7% |
| 5617 Services to Buildings and Dwellings | 16 | 4.2% |
| 2389 Other Specialty Trade Contractors | 15 | 4.0% |
| 8111 Automotive Repair and Maintenance | 13 | 3.4% |
| 7139 Other Amusement and Recreation Industries | 11 | 2.9% |
| 2382 Building Equipment Contractors | 11 | 2.9% |
| 6213 Offices of Other Health Practitioners | 10 | 2.6% |
| 4841 General Freight Trucking | 9 | 2.4% |
| 8121 Personal Care Services | 9 | 2.4% |
Elsewhere
If you are selling
Thinking about selling
The figures above describe businesses in Kentucky 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.
If you are buying
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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.