Siddwell on the SBA acquisition rules from 1 October 2026.
For 7(a) and 504 applications issued an SBA loan number on or after 1 October 2026, the SBA says SOP 50 10 8.1 applies. Change-of-ownership updates in that SOP are in Appendix 15. Applications submitted through 30 September 2026 stay on SOP 50 10 8. The notice says to read the SOP. This page does not invent the thresholds the SOP file was not available to quote.
Siddwell is an AI-native investment bank for privately held US companies with $1M to $100M in revenue, doing sell-side M&A and capital advisory.
What the SBA has actually published.
SBA Information Notice 5000-880695, published 14 August 2026, is titled Issuance of SOP 50 10 8.1. It says SOP 50 10 8.1, Lender and Development Company Loan Programs, becomes effective 1 October 2026 and applies to all applications that are issued an SBA loan number on or after that date. Lenders and SBA employees must keep using SOP 50 10 8 for 7(a) and 504 applications submitted through 30 September 2026. The notice says users should read the SOP to understand the changes. The document page is Information Notice 5000-880695, and the notice PDF is on legacy.sba.gov.
The notice says the update includes changes to change-of-ownership lending, now in Appendix 15. It also says the SOP provides new flexibilities for SBA Express and for same-institution debt refinancing, and that it builds on the 7(a) and 504 criteria in SOP 50 10 8. It lists policy notices the SOP integrates, including Policy Notice 5000-879058, Coordination of 7(a) and 504 for Maximum Loan Limits, effective 4 July 2026. The SOP document page, which lists version 8.1 as effective 1 October 2026, is SOP 50 10.
The Word file linked from that document page returned an error when this page was written, so equity-injection percentages, debt-service-coverage floors, quality-of-earnings thresholds, and limits on seller notes or minority-investor equity are not restated here. Secondary summaries of Appendix 15 are not treated as a source. Ask the lender for the appendix section that applies to your application, and read it.
What 7(a) and 504 already say, apart from the new SOP.
Separate from SOP 50 10 8.1, the SBA's 7(a) page states that the maximum 7(a) loan amount is $5 million and that proceeds can be used for a complete or partial change of ownership, among other uses. You apply with a lender. You do not apply with the SBA. See 7(a) loans. Lender Match introduces participating lenders if you want that introduction yourself.
The 504 page states that a 504 loan is long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, originated by a certified development company with a senior lender, with a maximum loan amount of $5.5 million. The page also introduces the program as financing of up to $5 million, so confirm the cap with the CDC. Working capital, inventory, and investment rental real estate are not eligible uses. See 504 loans. A 504 loan is the wrong instrument for a stock purchase that is only a change of ownership. It belongs on real estate and long-term equipment.
On 7 July 2026 the SBA announced that borrowers may combine 7(a) and 504 loans for up to $10 million. The announcement says a borrower who secures a 7(a) loan first may access up to $5 million through 7(a) and up to $5 million through 504. It is published here. Information Notice 5000-880695 lists the related policy notice as integrated into SOP 50 10 8.1. The announcement is not an approval of any acquisition.
What a buyer should confirm with the lender.
Which SOP applies to this application: 50 10 8, if it was submitted through 30 September 2026, or 50 10 8.1, if it is issued a loan number on or after 1 October 2026. The notice's test is the loan number date, and it also tells lenders to keep using 8.0 for applications submitted through 30 September 2026. If those two sentences ever seem to point different ways on a file that straddles the date, the lender has to resolve it. Do not guess.
Then ask the lender to show you the Appendix 15 rules for this transaction. The questions worth asking, without pretending the answers are printed here: how the lender classifies the change of ownership; what equity injection the appendix requires, and which sources count; whether a seller note or a minority investor's cheque can count, and for how much of the injection; what debt-service coverage the appendix requires, and whether projections are allowed to meet it; whether a quality-of-earnings report is required at this purchase price, and who must order it. Those topics are why people are reading about the SOP. The numbers have to come from the SOP the lender is underwriting to, not from a blog.
Bring the purchase agreement, a sources-and-uses page, and three years of statements to that conversation. How acquisition financing is actually run, with 7(a) as one lender path among others, is the capital-advisory page. A wider account of both programs is SBA financing for acquisitions and buyouts.
Loan-number date on or after 1 October 2026, or an application submitted through 30 September.
The lender's classification of the change of ownership, from the SOP.
What counts, including any seller note or minority cheque. Read the appendix.
The coverage test, and whether a quality-of-earnings report is required.
What Siddwell is and isn't.
Siddwell is an investment bank for privately held US companies doing about $1 million to $100 million in revenue. A banker owns the deal. Software does the volume: research, the list of buyers or lenders, first-draft materials, and document chasing. The calls, the negotiation, and the relationships stay with the banker.
Siddwell is not a lender, not a licensed loan broker, and not a business broker. Lenders fund loans. Buyers buy companies. If a direct introduction to SBA lenders is all you want, the SBA's Lender Match tool does that, and you apply with the lender.
SBA rules change. Confirm the current SOP with the lender before you rely on a structure, a seller note, or an equity source. This page will be updated when a primary SBA text of Appendix 15 can be quoted. Until then it stays inside the notice and the public loan pages.
What does Siddwell do for the 2026 SBA acquisition rules?
Siddwell points to what the SBA has published about SOP 50 10 8.1 and to the questions worth asking a lender. Siddwell cannot approve a structure. A lender decides whether the deal fits the SOP.
When does SOP 50 10 8.1 apply?
Information Notice 5000-880695 says it is effective 1 October 2026 and applies to applications issued an SBA loan number on or after that date. Applications submitted through 30 September 2026 stay on SOP 50 10 8.
Where are the new change-of-ownership rules?
The same notice says change-of-ownership updates are in Appendix 15 of SOP 50 10 8.1. Read that appendix with the lender. This page does not restate equity, coverage, or diligence figures from it.
Does the SBA lend the purchase price?
No. A 7(a) loan is made by a lender, with an SBA guaranty. The SBA states a $5 million maximum for 7(a). You apply with the lender.
Can Siddwell approve an SBA structure?
No. Siddwell is not a lender and not a loan broker. A lender decides whether the deal fits the SOP. An advisor can run the competition among lenders.
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