M&A Activity: The Invisible 'Tuck-in' Deals

New Direction Partners, an M&A advisory firm, has witnessed a "fairly robust" M&A market in the past 12 months, notes Peter Schaefer, partner. He's seen an increase in buyers willing to pay cash for healthy businesses, a welcome diversion from the recent period when buyers were highly risk adverse and fearful of overpaying in an economy that could bottom out further. Those concerns have been allayed.