Premier HVAC Company

Industry

Construction and Specialized Trades

Location

Connecticut

Business Broker

Brian Labonte

Situation

The owner and founder of this commercial HVAC company in Connecticut had decided it was time to sell so he could travel, garden and spend more time with his grandchildren. Conducting an online search for business brokers, the owner found BayState Business Brokers and met with BayState’s Brian Labonte to learn more about the company and see if BayState would be the right fit to successfully sell his company.

Labonte met with the owner to learn more about his business and reviewed a presentation about BayState Business Brokers. It was during this meeting that the owner confirmed Labonte was his choice for his business broker as he clearly knew what he was doing and had been in the seller’s shoes, having owned and sold a business. Additionally, the seller appreciated his straight-shooting approach.

BayState Business Brokers’ Approach

Business broker Brian Labonte was confident that this HVAC business would garner a lot of attention from prospective buyers. The owner had wisely built his business, focused on profitable services centered on commercial HVAC preventative maintenance. His reputation for being trustworthy and delivering quality work had secured a loyal customer base. He retained business when ownership and leadership changed due to his solid business practices, focus on relationships and quality reputation. Unlike similar businesses who typically operated under one-year preventive maintenance contracts, he secured longer term contracts including his two largest customers with three and five year contracts in place.

Brian brought the business to market, attracting a lot of interest quickly, especially among private equity firms. With four strong prospective buyers identified, Labonte scheduled a series of four online meetings to further evaluate each potential buyer. He coordinated the evaluation process where each prospect presented their offer followed by in-depth discussions. At the conclusion of the meetings, both Labonte and more importantly, the seller, had increased confidence in who the best buyer was to take over the commercial HVAC business.

Results

The private equity firm was ideal to work with and timing of the acquisition could not have been better for the acquirers and the seller. The buyers had bought a larger HVAC business nine months prior, securing a general manager, controller and HR professional who would run this HVAC business too. For the private equity firm, this was an ideal bolt-on acquisition with revenue flowing directly to the bottom line.

Both parties got along and there was consistent good faith to bring the agreement to a close. This was apparent during negotiations when deal structure terms could not be met, but the buyers instead sweetened the purchase price to ensure the deal came together.

The seller was thrilled with the increase in return for his years of work and was willing to stay on to support a smooth transition where his customers would be confident that their ongoing needs would be met and to ensure the expiring long-term maintenance contracts would continue with the new owners.

After a highly productive 35 days to close, both parties’ goals were reached. Even the corporate attorney for the seller remarked on how smooth and efficient the transaction had been and hoped the parties’ paths would meet again.

In a short period, the private equity firm had put together two HVAC companies with one leadership team, greatly increasing profitability. The seller and founder looked forward to the next phase of his journey travelling and spending time with his grandchildren, with peace of mind that his loyal customers would be well taken care of.