Closed Deal Announcement – Peakstone Advises ESOP-owned Manufacturing Company on Sale to Strategic Buyer

September, 2017. Peakstone served as exclusive financial advisor to Southern Imperial, Inc. on its sale to FFR Merchandising, Inc.  Southern Imperial, based in Rockford, Illinois, was founded in 1957 and has been employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) since 1997.

Southern Imperial is a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of high value-added point-of-purchase retail product display and loss prevention solutions.  The Company creates and delivers a broad range of products designed to enhance the visual presentation of retail goods, reduce product shrink, and increase retailers’ sales and profit margins.  Southern Imperial sells over 15,000 SKUs to many of the leading retailers in the U.S. and Canada.

FFR Merchandising, headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio, is a portfolio company of Olympus Partners.  Following the transaction, FFR is one of the largest suppliers of merchandising, loss prevention, and operational efficiency solutions in North America.

Steve Vandemore, former Chief Executive Officer of Southern Imperial and now Chief Executive Officer of FFR, said, “Selling an ESOP-owned company is an incredibly complex transaction process. Peakstone negotiated a great sale price for the ESOP participants and provided thoughtful, technical and strategic advice throughout the process.  Peakstone recognized the strength of the Southern Imperial management team and was able to deliver an outstanding valuation by finding a partner that could utilize the incredibly talented and dedicated Southern Imperial workforce and management team, providing everyone with great opportunities in the future.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For additional information about this transaction, contact:

Stephen Sleigh, Managing Director, 312-346-7318, ssleigh@peakstone.com

Mark Horita, Managing Director, 312-346-7308, mhorita@peakstone.com

 

About Peakstone

The Peakstone Group is a leading investment bank that specializes in mergers and acquisitions advisory and capital raising for middle market clients. Our team is comprised of senior investment banking professionals who have decades of experience and have executed hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars. For additional information, visit www.peakstone.com.

Industry Update: Packaging M&A Update – September, 2017

September, 2017

For the 2017 YTD period, strategic buyers accounted for 89% of the Packaging M&A transactions with financial buyers making up
the difference; during 2016, strategic buyers also accounted for approximately 89% of the transactions.

Select recent notable publicly announced M&A transactions:

– CVC Capital Partners Limited; BA Glass BV acquired Anchor Glass Container Corporation for approximately $1000 million.

– DS Smith Plc (LSE:SMDS) acquired Indevco Management Resources, Inc. for approximately $1.15 billion.

– Loews Corporation (NYSE:L) acquired Consolidated Container Company LLC for approximately $1.2 billion.

– RPC Group Plc (LSE:RPC) acquired Letica Corporation for approximately $640 million.

– WestRock Company (NYSE:WRK) acquired Multi Packaging Solutions International Limited for approximately $2.3 billion.

Closed Deal Announcement – Peakstone Advises Labriola Baking Company on Sale to J&J Snack Foods

September, 2017. Peakstone served as exclusive financial advisor to Labriola Baking Company, in connection with its sale to J&J Snack Foods, Corp., a leader and innovator in the snack food industry with a $2.4 billion public market capitalization. The transaction is Peakstone’s fifth closed sale in 2017 to a multi-billion public company and represents our ability to access large strategic buyers on behalf of our clients.

Labriola Baking Company is a premium baker of breads and artisan soft pretzels, located in Alsip, IL.  Labriola Baking began in 1993 as a local delivery bakery in the Chicago suburbs and grew into a nationwide provider of superior prebaked breads, rolls, and soft pretzels for retail instore bakery and foodservice outlets. The company was sold by an investor group that was led by Plaza Belmont of Kansas City, which focuses on food related investment.

J&J Snack Foods manufactures and distributes nutritional and affordable branded niche snack foods and beverages to foodservice and retail supermarket outlets nationwide. Jerry Law, J&J’s Senior Vice President, commented, “Labriola was built upon high quality, authentic products.  We have been a longtime admirer and we’re eager to have Labriola join our J&J Snack Foods family of brands and bakeries. We look forward to marrying Labriola’s quality product offerings with our current portfolio, thus providing additional opportunities for our customers and consumers.”

Peakstone’s dedicated Food & Beverage industry team executed a highly targeted marketing process that resulted in a rapid mandate-to-close timeline. This group completes numerous transactions in the F&B sector each year.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For additional information about this transaction, contact:

Cathy Jaros, Managing Director, 312-262-7735, cjaros@peakstone.com
Stephen Sleigh, Managing Director, 312-346-7318, ssleigh@peakstone.com

About Peakstone

The Peakstone Group is a leading investment bank that specializes in mergers and acquisitions advisory and capital raising for middle market clients. Our team is comprised of senior investment banking professionals who have decades of experience and have executed hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars. For additional information, visit www.peakstone.com.

E-Commerce Auto Parts Closed Deal Announcement Peakstone Advises Auto Accessories Garage on Strategic Partnership Transaction

September, 2017. Auto Accessories Garage, LLC (autoaccessoriesgarage.com) has closed on a strategic capital transaction.  The transaction will enable the company to continue to provide the broadest product offering and world class service to our customers, while unlocking the significant growth potential of the business.

The Peakstone Group served as the exclusive advisor for Auto Accessories Garage in connection with this transaction.

“The Peakstone Group was an invaluable resource in conducting our rather complex strategic transaction. Not only did they develop a highly relevant initial outreach portfolio, but they also executed a successful strategy that shared in our vision of the future of the company.” said Steve Therriault, President and CEO of Auto Accessories Garage.

Vice President Kyle Therriault added, “The Peakstone Group was truly a joy to work with in navigating our first experience securing a strategic transaction. Steve Royko in particular was paramount to the success of this endeavor, and made us feel comfortable during the entire process. The education gained through Steve’s imparted knowledge and experience was immeasurable.” -Kyle Therriault, Vice President.

 

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For additional information about this transaction, contact:

Steve Royko, Managing Director, 608-236-4490, sroyko@peakstone.com

 

About Peakstone

The Peakstone Group is a leading investment bank that specializes in mergers and acquisitions advisory and capital raising for middle market clients. Our team is comprised of senior investment banking professionals who have decades of experience and have executed hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars. For additional information, visit www.peakstone.com.

Industry Update: Industrials & Manufacturing M&A Update – August, 2017

August, 2017

For the 2017 YTD period, strategic buyers accounted for 92% of the Industrials and Manufacturing M&A transactions with
financial buyers making up the difference; during 2016, strategic buyers accounted for approximately 88% of the transactions.

Select recent notable publicly announced M&A transactions:

– Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE:APO) acquired West Corporation (NasdaqGS:WSTC) for approximately $5.12 billion.

– Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec; SUEZ SA (ENXTPA:SEV) acquired GE Osmonics, Inc. for approximately $3.37 billion.

– Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) acquired CEB Inc. for approximately $3.82 billion.

– Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE:JEC) acquired CH2M HILL Companies, Ltd. for approximately $3.37 billion.

– SSL MDA Holdings, Inc. acquired DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE:DGI) for approximately $3.51 billion.

Industry Update: E-Commerce M&A Update – August, 2017

August, 2017

For the 2017 YTD period, strategic buyers accounted for 94% of the E-Commerce M&A transactions with financial buyers making up the difference; during 2016, strategic buyers accounted for approximately 93% of the transactions.

Select recent notable publicly announced M&A transactions:

– Bain Capital Private Equity, LP; Bow Street, LLC acquired Blue Nile, Inc. for approximately $500 million.

– Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NasdaqGS:BBBY) acquired PersonalizationMall.com, Inc. for approximately $190 million.

– Hangzhou Lianluo Interactive Information Technology Co.,Ltd (SZSE:002280) acquired Newegg Inc. for approximately $180 million.

– QVC Group (NasdaqGS:QVCA) acquired HSN, Inc. (NasdaqGS:HSNI) for approximately $1.83 billion.

– Samsonite LLC acquired eBags, Inc. for approximately $110 million.

Industry Update: Consumer & Retail M&A Update – August, 2017

August, 2017

For the 2017 YTD, strategic buyers accounted for 59% of Consumer and Retail M&A transactions. During 2016, strategic buyers
accounted for 85% of the transactions.

Select recent notable publicly announced M&A transactions:

– American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) acquired Metaldyne Performance Group Inc. for approximately $3.42 billion.

– BPS Direct, L.L.C. acquired Cabela’s Incorporated (NYSE:CAB) for approximately $8.67 billion.

– Circle K Stores Inc. acquired CST Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CST) for approximately $6.09 billion.

– Rye Parent Corp. acquired Panera Bread Company (NasdaqGS:PNRA) for approximately $7.66 billion.

– Samsung Electronics America, Inc. acquired Harman International Industries, Incorporated for approximately $9.38 billion.

– Sycamore Partners acquired Staples, Inc. (NasdaqGS:SPLS) for approximately $7.85 billion

Industry Update: Technology & Software Industry Update – August, 2017

August, 2017

For the 2017 YTD period, Technology and Software transactions are on track with 2016 volume and are trading at significantly
higher multiples compared to 2016.

Select recent notable publicly announced M&A transactions:

– Cisco systems, inc. (nasdaqgs:csco) acquired Appdynamics, inc. for approximately $4.03 billion.

– Inception parent, inc. acquired Rackspace Hosting, inc. for approximately $4.95 billion.

– Micro Focus International plc (lse:mcro) acquired Hewlett Packard enterprise company, software business for approximately $8.73 billion.

– Oracle Corporation (nyse:orcl) acquired Netsuite inc. for approximately $7.08 billion.

– Siemens Industry, inc. acquired Mentor graphics corporation for approximately $4.82 billion.

– Verizon Communications inc. (nyse:vz) acquired Yahoo! Inc., Operating business for approximately $4.48 billion.

Industry Update: Home Décor Industry Update – August, 2017

August, 2017

For the 2017 YTD period, strategic buyers accounted for 78% of the Home Décor M&A transactions with financial buyers making
up the difference; during 2016, strategic buyers also accounted for approximately 78% of the transactions.

Select recent notable publicly announced M&A transactions:

– Legrand North America, Inc. acquired Milestone AV Technologies, LLC for approximately $1.2 billion.

– Mill Road Capital LP acquired Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NasdaqGS:LCUT) for approximately $380 million.

– Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) acquired Newell Brands Inc., Tool Business including Irwin, Hilmor and Lenox Brands for approximately $1.95 billion.

– Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) acquired Sears Holdings Corporation, Craftsman for approximately $780 million.

– Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (JSE:SNH) acquired Mattress Firm Holding Corp. for approximately $2.98 billion.

– Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV:VITRO A) acquired PPG Industries, Inc., Flat Glass facilities in US and Canada and PPG Canada Inc. (Calgary) for approximately $750 million.

Industry Update: Automotive M&A Update – August, 2017

August, 2017

For the 2017 YTD period, strategic buyers accounted for 83% of the automotive M&A transactions with financial buyers making up
the difference; during 2016, strategic buyers accounted for approximately 88% of the transactions.

Select recent notable publicly announced M&A transactions:

– American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) acquired Metaldyne Performance Group Inc. for approximately $3.42 billion.

– Octavius Corporation acquired Grand Design RV for approximately $500 million.

– Polaris Industries Inc. (Delaware) acquired TAP Automotive Holdings, LLC for approximately $670 million.

– Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO) acquired Jayco, Inc. for approximately $580 million.

– Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV:VITRO A) acquired Pittsburgh Glass Works LLC for approximately $310 million.