LMMMAlower middle market M&A

OH · NAICS sector 72 · 294 financed acquisitions

$464MCapital deployed

Accommodation and Food Services in Ohio

294 accommodation and food services businesses in Ohio were bought with SBA 7(a) acquisition financing since FY2019, carrying $464M of bank debt. The median deal was financed with $900,500 over 18.8 years at 7.98%.

§1

Volume and price

What accommodation and food services businesses in Ohio financed by an SBA 7(a) acquisition loan actually cost, and how many of them there were.

Financed acquisitions294Disbursed loans, FY2019 to date
Capital deployed$464MGross approval, all years
Median loan$900,500Half above, half below
Interquartile range$268k - $2.5MMiddle half of deals
Median rate7.98%294 loans with a recorded rate
Median term18.8 years294 loans with a recorded term

Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level extract, change-of-ownership approvals, FY2019 onward. Data as of 30 June 2026. n = 294 financed acquisitions.

Loan size distribution
Size bandAcquisitionsShare
Under $250k6622.4%
$250k to $500k4615.6%
$500k to $1M4214.3%
$1M to $2M3913.3%
$2M to $3.5M5819.7%
$3.5M to $5M258.5%
$5M and above186.1%
All294100.0%

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.

§2

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 structure
TermWhat it indicatesAcquisitionsShare
Under 10 yearsShorter than the goodwill maximum186.1%
Exactly 10 yearsThe standard goodwill-only note10836.7%
10 to 20 yearsMixed collateral217.1%
20 years and overReal property financed with the business14750.0%

36.7% of loans here run exactly ten years and 50.0% run twenty years or more. n = 294 loans with a recorded term.

§3

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.

Approvals cancelled7.8%25 of 319 approvals never disbursed
Charged off, FY2019-FY2021 cohort3.36%4 of 119 funded loans
Jobs recorded4,318Jobs supported, as reported by the lender at approval
Franchised62.2%Share of acquisitions carrying a franchise name

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.

§4

By fiscal year

FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26*

* 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.

§5

Inside this cross-section

Counties
CountyAcquisitionsShare
Cuyahoga3311.2%
Franklin279.2%
Hamilton268.8%
Summit206.8%
Montgomery155.1%
Lorain144.8%
Lucas113.7%
Miami93.1%
Lenders
LenderAcquisitionsShare
The Huntington National Bank7324.8%
GBank4515.3%
First Western SBLC258.5%
Shoreham Bank175.8%
United Midwest Savings Bank82.7%
The Park National Bank62.0%
Banc of California62.0%
The Union Bank Company41.4%
§6

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The figures above describe accommodation and food services businesses in Ohio 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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