ACG

The Association for Corporate Growth is a chapter-based professional association for people who do middle-market mergers and acquisitions. Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Chicago, it reports more than 14,000 members and operates 61 chapters and networks across seven regions, most of them in North America with a European cluster covering Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Membership is individual rather than firm-level and is bought through a local chapter, which is why dues differ from city to city: ACG New York charges $725 in the first year and $625 on renewal, while ACG Detroit charges $475. Most chapters offer a reduced rate for first-time members aged 35 and under. The association runs more than 1,200 events a year, from monthly chapter breakfasts to DealMAX, its national dealmaking conference, and DealSource and Capital Connection matchmaking programmes. It publishes Middle Market Growth magazine, ACG Insights and the Middle Market Growth podcast, and maintains topic networks for corporate development officers, family offices, PE-backed CEOs, operating partners, women and young professionals.

How it works

A prospective member joins a specific chapter through ACG's central portal and pays that chapter's annual dues, which include national membership. Activity is mostly local: chapter breakfasts, deal forums and networking events, supplemented by national conferences and a member directory. Specialist networks and the Private Equity C-Suite Network operate across chapters.

Typical member

Members come from corporations, private equity firms, lenders and professional service firms working on middle-market transactions. ACG reports that 75% of members say they have done business with another member. Specialist networks exist for corporate development officers, family offices, PE-backed CEOs, operating partners, women and young professionals.

ACG is the volume player in this batch: broad, inexpensive relative to the trade associations, and organised entirely around transaction sourcing rather than peer development. The eligibility bar is effectively occupational (work in or around middle-market M&A), and no published test, sponsorship or interview stands between an applicant and membership. That makes it a poor comparison for selective networks and a good one for anyone whose goal is local deal flow. The chapter-by-chapter pricing is the practical complication: there is no national dues figure, spreads run roughly $375 to $725 a year in the examples ACG publishes, and benefits vary with the chapter's size and event calendar. The two membership numbers ACG quotes (14,000 members and 100,000 professionals engaged) measure different things and should not be used interchangeably.

Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.