Current
Engagements

BAMA is pleased to present the growth recapitalization of “BLAZE”, a $49M (2020) packaging products distributor and manufacturer with exceptional leadership, management, sales, marketing and customers. Products include specialty packaging solutions, stretch film, corrugate, various void and fill solutions, strapping, packaging equipment and machinery, as well as, custom solutions.

The Company grew approximately 27% from 2019 to 2020 and expects comparable growth in 2021 with a budget of $62MM. The Company’s gross margins grew 3.8% from 2019 to 2020 as it added more higher margin products and services for its customers and realized return on strategic pricing initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA grew approximately 105% to $4.2MM from 2019 to 2020 as the Company leveraged its robust infrastructure and fixed costs and generated a return from growth investments driving top-line and bottom-line performance. Don't let the margins fool you. The Company generates 26% average gross margin and invests a lot in SG&A to drive growth right now. There is a lot of potential here.

This is a majority growth recap where management seeks to be the platform to grow organically and through acquisition. The Company has excellent relationships with similar companies in other markets who have expressed interest in being acquired by BLAZE. The owner seeks to own 30-40% of the equity going forward and use the growth recap to get several key managers and leaders engaged in ownership.

We seek a culturally like-minded, experienced partner who has supported other packaging product companies in their growth. This is a great place to work with no turnover in sales staff, strong customer relationships and no customer concentration. Cultural fit is critical in selection of their future partner.

The Company leases 100,000 s.f. of office, warehousing and manufacturing space.

There are several national players along with regional/mom and pops in the packaging distribution space. BLAZE sets itself apart from the competition by offering unique, customer-centric solutions to meet any need. They have outstanding relationships with their customers - who continue to trust BLAZE year after year for their packaging requirements. Company is expanding into clean room packaging for medical customers.

The seller is aware of several specific add-on opportunities - companies in the packaging space who would love to be part of the BLAZE family. They have begun conversations with the owners of these companies and noted their intent to grow through acquisition.

"Diamond" is one of the fastest growing building services franchises with systemwide revenues topping $100MM in 2020. The franchisor and related entities project $16.7MM in revenue this year, generating $5MM EBITDA, up from $14.6MM and $4.7MM in 2020, respectively. System revenue has grown over 20% annually each of the last 3 years.

Business highlights include a solid franchise management system that tracks all franchisee customer invoices and work in real-time. Senior management team is in place with solid, bankable leadership.

Diamond offers a proven model with high monthly recurring revenue (over $500k/month). End user renewals are excellent - better than 92%.

The owner seeks a growth partner with a proven franchisor investor to expand their core franchise, as well as to acquire other building service franchisors that complement their existing services and infrastructure. They will consider mezz investors, minority equity investments and majority growth recap scenarios. If you don't have an excellent track record growing franchises, you will not qualify to review this opportunity.

This outsourced software development business serves companies that need regular custom software development. "M-GOLD" employees write code in multiple languages and provide significant support as a Microsoft Solutions Vendor. The Company’s 14 employees provide programming, project management, business development and strategic architectural services. The business brings domain knowledge to three niche verticals, as well as, strong skills in capturing business intelligence for client.

Company did $2.6M in revenue in 2020 and projects $2.8M this year with 45% gross margins.

The seller desires a cash transaction from a strategic buyer who has blended (on-shore, off-shore) model. Capable management and technical teams are in place. The seller will provide transition support if desired.

The Company leases a facility in the Southeast. Some associates also work remotely.

The company’s project managers ask customers for new SOWs when current SOWs are completed. As a result, the year over year retention of the Company’s customers is excellent. Most all customers own proprietary software that needs regular updates and service as new features, connectivity with other technologies, software and security components are required. The business would benefit from a focused sales and marketing initiative. Today, most new business is from referral with little outward prospecting or marketing efforts.

The outsourced software development industry is highly fragmented. There are both large and small companies that provide custom software augmentation, dev-ops, maintenance, design, business intelligence and programming. The owner will only sell to experienced financial buyers or strategic buyers. If you don’t have real software development experience, you will not be considered.

“Crystal” represents an exceptional opportunity to own a leader in the food and beverage process equipment engineering, fabrication and installation space. With an installed base of more than 400 food or beverage processing facilities, the Company gets consistent repeat business from customers, with new opportunities coming from referrals. The Company designs and builds systems for batching, storage, water treatment, clean-in-place, and other sanitary processes or food manufacturing processes. It also distributes replacement parts for maintenance and repair of process systems.

As a turnkey solutions provider, Crystal earns repeat business by providing high-quality solutions and seamless installation. A typical year includes installs in ±150 unique processing facilities. As noted, with an installed base of 400+ factories, they are regularly upgrading or updating equipment, parts, lines or expansion initiatives. More than 70% of annual revenues come from customers trusting Crystal for their needs for 10-25+ years.

With ever-changing consumer tastes and increased requirements for food safety, Crystal’s owners find themselves turning down more work each year as existing and new customers seek more of their services. Buyers willing to roll-up their sleeves and invest in additional staffing will achieve significant growth by accepting work they turn away today.

Crystal’s owners desire working another 6-8 years. Ideally, a strong strategic buyer with additional people and resources will provide them the opportunity to retain some equity going forward. The best buyers bring relevant industry knowledge and resources to support continued growth.