South Texas · Texas
Harlingen business brokers and M&A advisors
MDR & Associates is a Texas M&A advisor that represents owners who sell, and in Harlingen that often means companies tied to shipping, trade and the medical centers. The city sits where Interstate 69E meets Interstate 2 in the middle of the Rio Grande Valley, and our advisors come to you there for every meeting that should happen face to face.
From Lon Hill's river dream to a Valley freight hub
Lon C. Hill founded Harlingen in 1904, naming it for a Frisian city in the Netherlands and imagining the Rio Grande as a commercial waterway. For decades the economy was farming, mostly vegetables and cotton. World War II changed that: the Army air field and the Air Force base that followed pushed the population from 23,000 in 1950 to 41,000 by 1960, and when the base closed in 1962, local business bought and reused the property and housing.
The result is a distribution, shipping and industrial center. The Port of Harlingen lies 4 miles east on Highway 106, Valley International Airport serves the lower Valley and northern Mexico, and the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios, 10 miles south, can inspect up to 75 trucks at once. Valley Baptist Medical Center and Harlingen Medical Center are major employers, and Texas State Technical College and the UTRGV School of Medicine add to the mix. The city had 71,892 residents in 2020.
Harlingen at a glance
- CountyCameron County
- Metro areaBrownsville–Harlingen
- Companies we sell$3M–$100M
- Typical transaction3–9 months
- Fee if we do not closeNone
What freight and warehouse buyers check first
A trucking, brokerage or warehousing company in Cameron County is judged on things an owner may take for granted: the age and ownership of the fleet, the terms of the warehouse lease, how many customers produce most of the volume, and whether those customers have contracts or simply call. Our distribution practice builds the financial recast around those points, so buyers see earnings adjusted for one-time costs and the owner's personal expenses.
Starting a sale from the Valley
A free valuation snapshot gives you a first range in a few minutes. The next step is a confidential discovery meeting, after which we give you an opinion of value. When you engage us, the company goes to market with a confidential package and a professionally produced HD video, offered first to the firm's own database of screened buyers. You can read more about our work across South Texas.
What we sell in and around Harlingen
Industry decides the buyer, the multiple and the diligence. These are the four sectors we work in most.
Manufacturing
Equipment, real estate, backlog and customer concentration decide what a manufacturer is worth.
How buyers value itHome Services
Plumbing, HVAC, roofing, landscaping and other home service companies — where repeat customers, crews and technicians decide the price.
How buyers value itDistribution & Wholesale
Inventory, working capital and supplier agreements decide what a distributor is worth.
How buyers value itBusiness Services
Recurring revenue and owner dependence separate a two-times business from a six-times business.
How buyers value itStraight answers
Questions Harlingen owners ask before they sell
Answered in full by the advisors who run the sales. Every San Antonio answer.
The process
How a Harlingen sale runs
Ten steps in four stages, typically three to nine months. Click any step to see it in full.
- Prepare
- Go to market
- Negotiate
- Close
We also work with owners near Harlingen
Questions owners in Harlingen ask
Do buyers treat Harlingen's port and bridge access as a selling point?
For a logistics or distribution company, yes, when the business actually uses them. A buyer will want to see revenue tied to cross-border or port traffic, and how steady it has been. We present that history plainly, with the customers and lanes behind it, rather than leaning on location alone.
Can a supplier to Harlingen's hospitals be sold without upsetting that relationship?
Yes, with care. If one hospital system is a large share of your revenue, buyers will ask whether the relationship survives a change of owner. We plan when and how that customer is told, often after a letter of intent, and help you show that the service depends on your team, not only on you.
Talk to an advisor about your Harlingen company
Four fields, a reply the same business day, and nothing shared with anyone. If you would rather talk, call (855) 637-2776.