High Output

04 Jan High Output

Six Offices in Five East Coast States
Sold To: Willistown Capital in Houston, TX

What made the business attractive to buyers?

• The Company is one of the largest event management companies on the east coast. They handle large corporate events, especially those which have heavy audio and video requirements.
• The Company also plays a key role in most political events in their marketplace.
• The Company was a leader in lighting and equipment for movie production.
• The Team – The company had cultivated top talent across a multitude of skill sets – having cutting edge equipment for event rental is just the beginning. Have someone to operate the equipment at the event so everything goes off smoothly, is priceless.

Challenge:

The Company has a lot of equipment – placing a value on this was difficult. Further the company had made large and material purchases over the prior four years to transition the company from analog audio to digital and moved from filament-based lighting to LED. Buyers were concerned the level of capital purchases during this period reflected an ongoing annual need to update equipment rather than replace an older style with new style and those purchases were complete.

Beacon’s Role and Results

Beacon prepared a full CIM outlining each of the revenue streams to tell their story of diversity in the client based and why those customers needed the High Output to be their vendor rather than whichever vendor had the lowest price that year.

Beacon first brought the opportunity to a group selected by the Sellers of industry folks who knew the business well and would appreciate the depth and breadth of what the company offered given past experience.

These buyers all offered wonderful accolades, but not the right deal.

Beacon then proceeded to bring the business to private equity buyers and received a great deal of interest at price and terms of interest to the sellers. The sellers chose to work with Willistown Capital because they liked the principals at the firm and felt they would be the right team to move the business forward and provide their team with opportunities to grow professionally.

Why did the owner want to sell?

The owners had been ready to sell for several years. They attempted to sell the business to someone they knew in the industry themselves several years earlier. This buyer pulled out of the deal well into the process, despite favorable price and terms offered by the sellers. This time they wanted a more definite process, and while they were willing to offer some favorable terms, they wanted less post-closing risk.

For more information on this transaction or other similar business sales contact:

David Humphrey
Beacon Equity Advisors
781.551.8000

Let Beacon sell your company for you.

About Beacon Equity Advisors – Since 1985 Beacon Equity Advisors, a leading New England Merger & Acquisition (M&A) advisory firm with offices in eight key New England cities, including in Boston, MA Providence, RI and Manchester, NH has represented owners selling closely held distribution businesses. Beacon Equity Advisors’ experience selling value add distribution companies enabled them to tell an engaging story about this Boston, MA area distributor in the M&A marketplace. Highlighting key enterprise attributes enhanced the company’s value as Beacon identified prospective buyers who were able to clearly recognize synergistic opportunities. By matching the right buyer with the right seller, shareholders were able to realize an above market value multiple in the sale of their business in a transaction beneficial for both parties. Beacon represented the Board of Directors and Shareholders in identifying the buyer, negotiating deal terms and brokering the transaction.