Axial has named Platano Advisors to its 2026 Top 50 Lower Middle Market Healthcare Investors and M&A Advisors. We ranked 16th among the 25 sell-side firms on the list.
Axial is one of the largest deal networks in the lower middle market. Private equity firms, family offices, independent sponsors, and strategic buyers use it to find and pursue acquisitions. The Healthcare Top 50 recognizes the 50 members who were the most active and most sought after in healthcare transactions over the past 12 months.
What the ranking measures
The list is not a popularity vote and it is not paid placement. Axial builds it from its own platform data with a weighted formula. For sell-side advisors, two things drive the score: how many healthcare deals a firm brought to market, and how much interest those deals generated from Axial’s buyer members.
In plain terms, the ranking measures two things a seller should care about: deal activity and buyer demand.
Why this matters if you own a medical practice
The price you get for your practice is set by competition. One buyer sets the price. Several qualified buyers bid it.
That is the whole job. On every engagement we take the practice to a wide pool of qualified buyers, run a structured process, and create competition for the deal. That means 150 to 300 buyer groups contacted per process, drawn from a network of more than 8,000 healthcare-specific buyers. Axial is one of the channels we use to reach them.
A ranking built on buyer interest is a direct reflection of that work. It also means something practical for a seller: the buyers on the other side of the table already know us, and they know our deals are prepared.
What the top healthcare dealmakers said about 2026
Axial also surveyed the firms on this year’s list about where healthcare M&A is headed. Two findings stand out for medical practice owners:
- Buyers are active in physician practices. Physician practices ranked second for deal activity, named by 51.7% of respondents.
- The number one reason deals fail to close is disagreement on value, named by 41.4% of respondents.
We broke down the full survey, and what each finding means for a medical practice owner, in What Top Healthcare Dealmakers Expect in 2026.
Thank you
This recognition belongs to the medical practice owners who trusted us with the sale of something they spent a career building, and to the buyers who took our deals seriously. We are grateful to both.
You can read the full 2026 Healthcare Top 50 on Axial.
If you are thinking about selling your practice, the first step is a confidential conversation about what buyers will look for. Book the discovery call below.
