Siddwell SBA financing for acquisitions and buyouts.

The SBA calls 7(a) its primary business loan program. It provides a guaranty to lenders so they can finance small businesses. The maximum loan amount for a 7(a) loan is $5 million. Proceeds can be used for a complete or partial change of ownership, for real estate, for machinery and equipment, for working capital, and for refinancing current business debt, among other uses. You apply through a lender. The SBA says you will always work directly with the lender and not with the SBA. The page is 7(a) loans.

On an acquisition, 7(a) is the path lenders look at when the deal fits, including goodwill. That work is acquisition financing. A partial buyout, with the remaining owner staying to operate, is a partner buyout. Equipment, working capital, and a refinance can also be 7(a) uses when the lender finds that they qualify. None of that makes 7(a) a separate product from the deal. The deal is the purchase, the buyout, or the facility. The 7(a) loan is one way to pay for it.

Rules for change-of-ownership applications changed with SOP 50 10 8.1. What the SBA itself has published about the 1 October 2026 effective date is on the SBA acquisition rules page. Confirm the section that applies with the lender before you build a structure around a number you have not read.

The 504 program is long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets. The SBA says certified development companies originate a 504 loan in collaboration with a senior lender, and that the maximum 504 loan amount is $5.5 million. The same page introduces the program as financing of up to $5 million, so confirm the cap for the project with the CDC. Eligible uses include buying, building, or renovating land and buildings, and long-term machinery and equipment. Working capital and inventory are not eligible. Speculation and investment in rental real estate are not eligible. See 504 loans.

That is the fit for the building your company works from and for a construction or renovation the company will occupy. If the real estate is part of buying the company, start with the acquisition. A July 2026 SBA announcement says borrowers may combine 7(a) and 504 financing for up to $10 million: up to $5 million in each program when the 7(a) loan comes first. The announcement is published here. It is a policy description, not an approval.

Advised means the company hires someone to run the lender process. The letter is signed, the books are reviewed, and the case a lender will back is built. The lenders who matter see the deal at once. Offers are compared. The one you accept is taken to signing. An SBA lender who is the only call is in the same position as the house bank that renews a line because nobody asked anyone else. Sometimes that lender is the right outcome. You cannot know until the credit has been shown more widely.

Search funds and independent sponsors hire this work when they are the buyer and the company is chosen. So does an owner. If you are the SBA lender and you want credits that fit your box, that call is the network.

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.

If you want a single shop to originate the credit, you want a lender. An SBA lender is one of the parties a competitive raise will include when the deal fits. Meeting them through Lender Match, with no advisor, is a reasonable choice when you are prepared to run the comparison yourself.