Big Story

Q&A: Paige Sopcic on Scaling and Exiting a Search Fund Acquisition

Paige Sopcic, a former engineer at General Electric turned acquisition entrepreneur, built and exited a specialty can supply business after acquiring it through a structured search process. After leaving GE and completing her MBA, Sopcic launched her search through an accelerator model and acquired CanSource, a company supplying decorated cans to beverage brands across North America. The business operated in a fragmented supply chain with recurring demand, driven by repeat purchases from breweries and emerging beverage categories.

CanSource generated revenue by sourcing cans, applying labels, and distributing finished products to beverage companies. The model benefited from consumable demand as customers needed to reorder continuously, and from category tailwinds as new beverage brands increasingly shifted toward aluminum packaging. At the time of acquisition, the business had approximately $2 million in EBITDA and was growing at ~30% year-over-year, supported by both market expansion and customer-level growth.

Following the acquisition in late 2019, Sopcic initially focused on maintaining operational continuity while learning the business. Within months, COVID-19 disrupted normal operations but created a sharp increase in demand, as beverage consumption shifted from on-premise to packaged formats. This drove a rapid increase in order volume, pushing the company to expand capacity through additional shifts and tighter supply chain management. The business experienced significant operating leverage during this period, with both revenue and margins increasing materially.

As demand normalized post-COVID, the company adjusted its strategy by expanding into new product offerings, including printed cans and larger customer contracts. This shift allowed CanSource to move upmarket and secure multi-year agreements, improving revenue visibility and strengthening its position within the supply chain. Growth during this phase was driven by deliberate product expansion and customer segmentation.

In 2023, Sopcic sold the business to TricorBraun in a proprietary transaction. The decision to exit was influenced by increasing industry consolidation, the need for greater scale to compete for larger contracts, and personal considerations around portfolio concentration. The sale was structured directly with a strategic buyer who already understood the industry, enabling a more straightforward valuation discussion and reducing execution risk.

From a buyer’s perspective, the business exhibited strong transferability characteristics: diversified customer base, recurring revenue driven by consumable demand, and operations supported by repeatable processes across multiple facilities. The presence of an operating team and established supplier relationships reduced dependency on the founder, making the business easier to transition under new ownership.

Sopcic’s experience highlights that value creation is driven by a combination of market tailwinds, operational execution, and the timing of the exit relative to industry structure. Her approach also underscores the role of proprietary relationships in both acquisition and exit, where deep industry familiarity on both sides can simplify transactions and improve outcomes.

Governance Feed

1. The leveraged loan market is flashing a risk-off signal as secondary-market prices soften and investor demand for new middle-market debt issuances cools. While broader equity markets remain near highs, credit investors are increasingly prioritizing quality and conservative leverage structures, leading to a notable slowdown in deal volume for more aggressive middle-market financing packages.

2. Valuation multiples for lower middle-market manufacturing businesses are stabilizing, with most transactions closing in the 5x to 8x adjusted EBITDA range depending on margins, customer concentration, and operational complexity. Buyer interest is returning selectively, with a clear preference for businesses that demonstrate stable cash flow and limited dependence on a single key person.

3. M&A activity is expected to broaden in 2026 beyond large-cap transactions, with improving financing conditions and clearer strategic priorities supporting increased participation from small and mid-cap buyers. Sponsors are also deploying capital through structured exits and continuation vehicles, indicating a shift toward more active capital recycling across the lower middle market.

Thesis Principle

AI enhances the front end of search fund acquisitions by improving sourcing, screening, and due diligence, enabling buyers to evaluate more companies with less manual work. The limiting factor remains judgment, as outcomes depend on assessing founder intent, cultural fit, and execution risk, none of which are captured cleanly in data. This creates a risk of false certainty when structured analysis is treated as definitive rather than directional. Returns continue to be driven by the operator’s ability to make decisions under imperfect information and execute post-close.

Resources & Events

📅 M&A SoCal 2026 (California, USA - September 14-16, 2026)

A three-day M&A summit hosted by the Association for Corporate Growth, bringing together private equity firms, investment bankers, lenders, and corporate buyers active in the U.S. market. The event focuses on deal sourcing, transaction trends, and relationship-building through structured networking, panel discussions, and one-on-one meetings designed to facilitate active deal flow. Details →

📅 Leadership in Dealmaking Summit 2026 (New York, USA - September 14-15, 2026)

A U.S.-focused gathering organized by The M&A Advisor that brings together corporate acquirers, private equity firms, and transaction advisors. The summit includes thought leadership sessions, one-on-one networking, and deal-focused discussions with professionals and senior executives from across the M&A ecosystem. Details →

📊 Report Spotlight: KPMG 2026 M&A Outlook (KPMG)

KPMG’s 2026 M&A Outlook, based on a survey of 300 corporate and private equity dealmakers, indicates renewed momentum in transaction activity, with distinct strategies emerging between financial and strategic buyers. Private equity firms are showing stronger intent to deploy capital, while corporates remain more selective. Read →

For the Commute

How to Acquire 25 Franchise Units in 2.5 Years (Acquiring Minds)

Jack Foster and Jake McLaughlin raised approximately $2.8 million to acquire an initial group of Meineke locations and expanded to 25 units within two and a half years. Growth was driven by using the cash flow from existing stores to fund additional acquisitions, supported by standardized operations and centralized management across locations. In this episode, they outline how they structured the initial acquisition and approached scaling a multi-unit platform. The discussion provides a clear example of how franchise-based businesses can be expanded through repeatable acquisition and operational consistency.