This Week in M&A: 3 Recent Acquisitions and 2 Buyer Spotlights

Three verified lower-middle-market acquisitions from the past two weeks — a $100M search fund deal, a PE carve-out, and a European SaaS buy — plus a spotlight on two of the buyers behind them.

Quick answer: three verified acquisitions closed in the lower middle market between August 31 and September 11, 2026 — Endurion Capital’s ~$100M purchase of Connected Dealer Services, Lion Equity Partners’ $30M carve-out of Myers Tire Supply, and Ilkka Oyj’s EUR 12M acquisition of Custobar. Below, each deal plus a closer look at two of the buyers behind them.

Every deal is pulled directly from WhoBoughtWho’s tracked acquisition history, verified against its original source — no estimates presented as fact, no unsourced deals.

Deals covered in this article
AcquirerTargetDeal sizeAnnouncedType
Endurion CapitalConnected Dealer Services~$100M EVSep 11, 2026Search fund
Lion Equity PartnersMyers Tire Supply (NA)$30MSep 3, 2026PE carve-out
Ilkka OyjCustobarEUR 12M EVAug 31, 2026Strategic

3 recent acquisitions

Endurion Capital → Connected Dealer Services

  • Connected vehicle tech / dealer software · United States · ~$100M enterprise value · Closed · Sep 11, 2026
  • Endurion Capital, led by Marcus Padmo Jörgensen and Tommy Högström, closed one of the largest deals in the search fund landscape to date — CDS had roughly $80M in 2025 revenue and over $13M in EBITDA. The deal was backed by a syndicate including Pacific Lake Partners, Ambit Partners, WSC & Company, and Banyan Software Capital, among others.

  • Fund: Endurion Capital
  • Backed by: Pacific Lake Partners, Ambit Partners, WSC & Company, Hadley Family Capital, Scipio, Moonbase Capital, Applied Equity Partners, Banyan Software Capital

Lion Equity Partners → Myers Tire Supply

  • Aftermarket tire and wheel service parts distribution · United States · $30M · Closed · Sep 3, 2026
  • A carve-out of Myers Industries’ North American distribution business — 233 employees, ~$187M in annual revenue, founded 1933 — ending nine decades of common ownership. KeyBanc Capital Markets advised on the sale.

  • Buyer type: Private equity · Fund vehicle not disclosed

Ilkka Oyj → Custobar

  • Martech / customer data platform SaaS · Finland · EUR 12M enterprise value · Closed · Aug 31, 2026
  • Finnish media group Ilkka Oyj acquired 100% of Custobar Oy, a customer data platform and marketing automation SaaS business with 2025 revenue of EUR 5.3M and EBITDA of EUR 0.6M. A strategic acquisition, not a financial sponsor — worth noting since so much of this band’s disclosed activity is search-fund-driven.

Buyer spotlight

Buyer Spotlight — Endurion Capital

  • Search fund
  • A search fund vehicle — an entrepreneur raises capital to search full-time for a single company to acquire and run. The Connected Dealer Services deal is notable less for the sponsors backing it and more for its size: at ~$100M enterprise value, it sits well above the typical search fund acquisition, which more commonly closes in the $10M-$30M range. That signals either an unusually large search fund raise or a co-investment structure pulling in acquisition capital beyond a single traditional search fund’s usual ceiling.

Buyer Spotlight — Lion Equity Partners

  • Private equity
  • A private equity firm whose Myers Tire Supply deal fits a recognizable playbook: acquiring a carved-out division of a larger public company rather than a standalone target. Carve-outs like this one often trade at more attractive multiples than a fully-marketed standalone auction, because the parent company is optimizing for balance-sheet simplification rather than maximizing sale price — worth tracking as a distinct sourcing channel from the usual owner-operated seller.


WhoBoughtWho tracks acquisitions like these as they’re announced — browse the full acquisition history, explore the private equity and search fund directories, or subscribe to WhoBoughtWho Weekly for verified deals delivered every week.