If you’re a family business owner in Northeast Florida and haven’t begun planning for your exit, now is the time to take a serious look at your options, especially given the current strength of the private capital markets.

Florida is one of the hottest markets in the country for mergers and acquisitions activity. Private equity groups, family offices and strategic acquirers are actively seeking to invest in or acquire established, well-run businesses and they have Northeast Florida on their radar.

Surprised? The Jacksonville metro area is home to about 230 private equity-backed companies, supported by about 115 private equity firms.

Of those companies, 103 transactions alone have generated more than $2.7 billion in reported funding.

Roughly 20 private equity and venture capital firms m

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