Mergers & Acquisitions

We create tailored strategies designed to achieve optimal results and allow our clients to realize their strategic objectives and maximize shareholder value, whether it may be selling, growing through acquisition, or restructuring. As an integral part of our capabilities, we also offer valuation services, provide fairness opinions and other general advisory services, and advise public companies in going private transactions.

Our clients benefit directly from the institutional backgrounds of our professionals, our expert technical transactional knowledge, our industry insights, and the direct and hands-on senior-level attention only available from a boutique firm. Our clients also appreciate our absolute discretion and absence of conflicting interests in the way we handle our assignments.

We are active across the full range of M&A advisory roles, including:

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Sell-side Advisory

We provide sell-side advisory services to sellers of middle market private and public companies in all types of transactional situations: (i) sales of closely held companies owned by entrepreneurs and their families, (ii) divestitures by large public and private companies of subsidiaries, divisions and other non-core assets, (iii) divestitures by private equity groups of their portfolio companies, and (iv) sales of small- and mid-cap public companies. Our role can be comprehensive or limited based on the situation, from conducting a full-blown auction to a negotiated sale, assisting in negotiations, or providing impartial and objective advice regarding the merits of unsolicited interest or offers. Our well thought-out, tailored approach is designed to maximize value and shoulder the burden of the process, minimizing the disruption to daily operations while maintaining confidentiality.

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Buy-side Advisory

We have a strong record of successful buy-side advisory assignments, advising and assisting private and public companies, private equity groups, management teams and entrepreneurs in valuing, structuring and negotiating acquisitions of companies or businesses as part of standalone transactions or in conjunction with financing engagements. With our industry insights and transactional knowledge, we work with our client to identify potential targets, contact selected parties to determine interest, negotiate the transaction, and raise any financing necessary to consummate the transaction.

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Merger Advisory

We advise and assist public and private companies in all types of merger transactions including forward, reverse, and triangular mergers, both taxable and non-taxable. Our role can range from involvement in every step of the transaction to specific aspects, including merger consequences analyses, structuring and negotiations.

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Management Buyouts

We are very active advising management teams on buyouts. Often, management teams are presented with the opportunity to purchase their company or division, or perhaps, purchase another company or division that they have identified. These situations may arise in a variety of contexts: an owner may be seeking to retire and management may be the logical choice to acquire the business, or a company may be seeking to divest a division that is no longer strategic to its business, or management may have identified a few target companies that they would like to acquire and approach them in an unsolicited fashion. Whatever the context, we work with management teams and assist them in pursuing buyout opportunities, including advising on strategy, the process, negotiations, structuring as well as raising the necessary financing (senior debt, subordinated debt and equity) to complete the transaction.

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Going Private Advisory

Another area where our team has extensive expertise is advising public companies, their Boards of Directors and Special Committees on going private transactions.

In today's environment, the scrutiny placed on public companies of all sizes has significantly increased the costs of being public as well as the risk exposure for members of senior management and Boards. Particularly on small-cap public companies, this additional burden is impacting financial resources and performance and has diminished or eliminated many of the benefits of being a public company.

The reality is that many small-cap companies would be better served by having its founders or management ownership take the company private and allow outside shareholders to exit their investment. With few small cap companies benefiting from research coverage, institutional interest or reasonable levels of liquidity in their stock, a going private transaction may be a suitable alternative that would allow outside shareholders, particularly institutions or individual investors with sizable holdings, to exit their investment in a reasonable fashion and maximize shareholder value.

Going private transactions tend to be fairly complex. We have significant experience executing the nuances associated with these transactions across several industries, having served as advisor to parties on all sides of these transactions ? Boards of Directors, Special Committees and investor groups. Our experience allows us to bring unique insight to small cap companies that no longer enjoy the benefits of a public company. Many times we also raise any capital necessary to effect the going private transaction, if such is needed.

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For a list of selected completed M&A and financial advisory transactions, click here.