Current
Engagements

The shareholders of RUBY, a branded food processing equipment manufacturer, seek a new owner. The Company manufactures and leases highly automated equipment for several niche food processing applications. RUBY assembles its products in-house and leases them to national and international food processors for their respective niches. RUBY adds about 10-30 net new machines to its rental fleet annually and will have over 525 machines by the end of the year. The intrinsic value of these machines, which are fully paid for, is substantial (±$22M).

The Company enjoys in-house design/engineering capabilities and holds several patents. RUBY currently employs 15. It also uses agents or contractors in different parts of the world to support their sales and service.

This business has been owned by a large and diversified family office for more than 60 years. With current shareholders in their 60’s and 70’s, they realize it’s time to let RUBY find a good home. As such, they seek a full exit. The family's objective is to maximize the sales price through the sale to a financial or strategic buyer.

BAMA believes the ideal buyer is either:

1. A strategic buyer who can incorporate RUBY’s equipment manufacturing, parts and service business into their own portfolio of niche food processing equipment. Such a strategic buyer will enjoy RUBY’s long-term customer relationships and leasing model which drive consistent recurring and predictable base revenues.
2. A financial buyer with experience in the food & beverage equipment manufacturing industry and use RUBY as a mini buy-and-build platform for a diverse food processing equipment operation.

The company owns an ±11,000 square foot facility (±1,500 SF office) for equipment assembly, storage, and maintenance of machines. Real estate can be part of the transaction, or part of a sale leaseback arrangement. It is the Shareholders preference to sell both the Company and its facilities together, but not a mandate. They are also open to a FMV sale/leaseback with a third-party.

The food processing industry represents more than $200B annually. It is highly fragmented with many niche manufacturers with specific equipment for unique food processing applications. RUBY provides machines for several unique processing applications, each having a variety of competitors globally. Due to its best of breed equipment, technology and yield, it usually wins in competitive applications. The Company doesn’t spend a lot of money on sales and marketing and would benefit from tapping resources of a larger strategic buyer with dedicated sales resources and market presence as there is still substantial organic growth available domestically and globally.

SATURN, a one-stop, diverse environmental services provider seeks a majority recap to support the continued growth of their proprietary service offering that’s driven 47% CAGR from 2021 to 2023. An experienced team offers multiple solutions to address environmental services around regulatory compliance, testing, clean-up and sustainable disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous materials. Their services include permitting and licensing, environmental site assessments & testing, compliance monitoring, waste evaluation, treatment and handling, hazardous waste management, industrial hygiene, storm water inspections and maintenance, and underground storage tank services. SATURN's commitment to excellence and sustainability makes them a trusted partner in navigating complex environmental issues for multi-site service operators across the United States.

While the Company enjoyed exceptional growth the last three years, they’re in early innings given recent environmental IP development. They seek a proven growth partner with experience in environmental and industrial services to support this growth.

Saturn notes they have not seen another individual company providing their value proposition and solution to the market. When customers learn of it, they typically terminate relationships with multiple vendors to get the total environmental solution offered by Saturn. The Company is currently contracted with three of the top ten operators nationally who require their services and are in meaningful conversations with others.

What we love about Saturn:
Saturn’s business is comprised of thousands of small ticket service items ($100-$500). Most customers engage with the Company via multi-year Master Service Agreements outlining the specific fee for services. The Company performs consistent routine services that often uncover additional services to increase the visit from a basic $100 fee to a $500, $1,000 or $10,000 service. The base service and other services are regulated and required. Given their one-stop shop and proprietary disposal solution, they are gaining market share at a rapid rate. This is a highly predictable business.

As a result of recent growth investments and the development of their proprietary IP, the Company is getting inquiries for services beyond what they can handle today. This is a growth investment where management will stay, retain a meaningful equity tranche and drive SATURN for the next 4-6 years to take advantage of its IP and strong market demand.

SATURN offers full service to many customers where it has infrastructure to support those services, and partial service to others where they haven’t fully built out their infrastructure. Management’s goal is to expand facilities to offer full services to all customers and to be the de facto leader in its offerings nationally. They expect to achieve national coverage within 5-6 years with the right partner.

SATURN's capabilities are only recently gaining national traction and attention. Their IP provides an environmental solution for customers that incumbent service providers don’t offer. Furthermore, being a one-stop-shop has provided the Company with a significant advantage over its competitors. The regulatory environment for the services are complex and often outside the core experience set of facility managers. The owners of the facilities appreciate off-loading these regulated services to professionals who have a better solution for their business, their managers and their facilities. The right buyer will discover SATURN as an excellent opportunity to grow with existing customers and capitalize on their recurring revenue from a range of services.

This 40+ year old equipment OEM to water treatment facilities ("SEAHAWK") seeks a new owner. SEAHAWK products are used in a variety of industrial and municipal water treatment applications. SEAHAWK assembles its products from components provided by its suppliers. Operations are easy and straight forward. Sales come from reps, web inquiries, or tradeshows. Approximately 50% of sales are for replacement parts from its long-term installed base of systems.

This business is one of many owned by the seller. In fact, the President spends about 10% of his time on this business and 90% on other businesses. He typically visits this operation once a quarter. It’s not been run with a focus to grow it, rather, it’s run to achieve certain profitability. There are several easy initiatives that will materially impact growth.

The current President oversees several companies for the owner and retains a small stake in this business. He’s open to staying on board and being part of the go-forward plan. He is also open to strategic buyers who acquire the operation and integrate it into their own operations and sales systems.

This will be an excellent company as an add-on to water treatment plant equipment OEMs or as a small platform for someone looking to do a “buy-and-build” in the water treatment equipment space.

The company leases its facilities from a related-party entity. The sellers anticipate the real estate will be included in the transaction (FMV $1.6M). The real estate includes unique water facilities for testing the equipment the Company sells.

SEAHAWK has seen moderate growth over the last 4 years. Given its 40+ year history, the Company enjoys the benefit of thousands of installed units representing potential future replacement product or part sales. This business is sleepy. It enjoys a responsible onsite day-to-day manager. The President is remote and oversees several businesses from ±1000 miles away. The business will benefit from dedicated focus.

There are various competitors who provide equipment to perform the processes provided by the Company’s products. Management estimates the annual market for its specific products is $60M-$75M annually. The President would focus on growing through acquisition to pick up 4-5 other products that are also sold to water treatment facilities.