I have worked closely with several PRO buyers to find and acquire tuck-ins, and several PRO sellers to prepare their businesses for sale.
M&A Tuck-Ins Found and Acquired
I am particularly proud of the acquisition of the Washington DC satellite of A Royal Flush, Inc., based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. My client Don’s Johns was interested in buying the business, so I reached out to Bill Malone confidentially and anonymously to see if he wanted to sell. He did, but not to a certain large company doing lots of acquisitions. With NCNDAs in place, the deal took only 47 days to complete! I enjoy finding companies to buy and assisting owners with selling their businesses. I offer insights, perspective, and context to find common ground so that both parties can transact with confidence.
At Reliable On-Site Services I played a role on their M&A team. I was tasked with contacting those owners whom I had known for many years and setting up meetings and site visits with the full United Rentals, Inc. (parent company) M&A team. We traveled to several PROs to introduce United Rentals and the Reliable On-Site Services concept and to express our interest in purchasing their PRO businesses.
In my current activities at Follow Your Process, I am working with my client StallionRents to assist them in finding acquisitions in several states. Here again, my vast network established over 30 years positions me for quiet, casual conversation to asses if there is any interest. If so, we all go behind a dark curtain until a decision is made.
Related to this service is my involvement in onboarding and assimilating the purchased company into the buyer’s company. This is a challenging set of activities and tasks, as there invariably are differences in company cultures, operating procedures, accounting, invoicing, and usually in many other areas. I enjoy a “hot mess” and “making the sausage.” I also have a passion for building Trusting Teams with clear goals, and working environments in which everyone can be better than they were yesterday and have a safe place to learn and grow through the process of merging company cultures.
“I want to sell my business”
While at Mr. John, I met Paul Christian in Suffield, CT and over time we became good friends. Pat West, our Satellite salesperson asked if I would help Paul with some questions. Paul is a third-generation, shade-grown tobacco farmer who also had built a portable toilet company just north of Hartford. After a number of years as a solo operator he decided he want to sell. He asked me to handle introductions to and negotiations with other local PROs.
Within 2 months we, found Suburban Sanitation, Inc. and they quickly acquired Paul’s PRO at a fair and reasonable price. I guided Paul’s attorney through some industry-specific deal points and advised Paul concerning what terms to hold firm on and where to be flexible.
