M&A Advisor at Calder Capital Graduate of Hope College Lover of 90s Music Motto: Nothing is that hard if you’re willing to spend the time to learn and figure it out. Favorite Activity: Basketball Karaoke Night Song: “How’s It Gonna Be” – Third Eye Blind What motivated you to become an M&A advisor? Flexibility and the ability to work on what I like. How did you come to work at Calder Capital? I met Max [Managing Partner at Calder Capital] randomly through a professor from GVSU and we wrote out a plan on a napkin. What kinds of businesses do you like to work with? All kinds, but generally industrial, manufacturing, distribution types of businesses. These are in some ways quick to understand, but each has its nuances. What motivates you to work hard each day? It’s fun and rewarding. . . it’s also difficult, which is also rewarding when you finally get it across the finish line. Describe the wildest thing that’s ever happened to you at work/during a project. I’ve had a number of wild things. . . someone called me after they signed the deal and told me they couldn’t work it out, before they let […]
J&J Electrical Services, Inc. Acquired by Turn Key Installation, LLC
Calder Capital is thrilled to announce the acquisition of J&J Electrical Services, Inc., of Muskegon, MI by Turn Key Installation, LLC of Grandville, MI! J&J Electrical Services, LLC, was founded in 2002 by Scott Janiga. J&J Electrical is a reputable electrical contracting company headquartered in Muskegon, Michigan. For two decades, the Company has provided excellent services to its customers with honesty, integrity, and professionalism. The Company was acquired by Turn Key Installation, LLC. The purchase of J&J Electrical was a strategic one for Turn Key. A successful project management company, Turn Key powers customers’ projects by carefully handling all the electrical work for jobs of all shapes and sizes, from residential to commercial and industrial. The addition of a specialty trade company like J&J will allow Turn Key to offer their customers even more expertly nuanced project management services, as well as reach a wider customer base across West Michigan. Scott Janiga engaged with Calder Capital in June 2020. After nearly 20 successful years running J&J Electrical, Mr. Janiga decided to sell so that he could work towards relocating to a warmer climate. Rick Purcey, Mergers and Acquisitions Advisor at Calder Capital, LLC, worked alongside J&J Electrical as the lead […]
Bridal Gallery SBDA Acquisition Wins “Judge’s Choice” Award in MiBiz 2020 M&A Awards!
Small Business Deal Advisors is proud to announce that the acquisition of its client, Bridal Gallery by America’s Bride has received the Judge’s Choice Award in the MiBiz 2020 M&A Awards! MiBiz presents the 8th Annual M&A Deals & Dealmakers Award to spotlight best practices and excellence related to mergers, acquisitions, capital formation and other types of deal making throughout Western Michigan. MiBiz recognizes ten categories for their Deal of the Year awards, and a client of Small Business Deal Advisors, Bridal Gallery, stood out as an example of perseverance and success in an industry that has particularly hard-hit by COVID-19. 2020 was a devastating year for small retail in general, with thousands of small “mom and pop” businesses going under due to mandatory shutdowns. This backdrop makes the Bridal Gallery acquisition all the more impressive. Founded in 1985 by Judi and Ralph Tapp, Bridal Gallery has been a staple for brides in West Michigan for over 30 years. The store carries over 350 special order wedding dresses as well as bridesmaid dresses, flower girl dresses, and bridal accessories. The Tapps contacted Max Friar in 2019 as they were ready to retire and wanted to sell their business. Bridal Gallery […]
Foxbright Acquisition Receives MiBiz Deal of the Year: Technology Award!
Calder Capital is proud to announce that the Acquisition of Foxbright by entrepreneur Hannah Lawrence has been honored by the MiBiz M&A Awards as the 2020 Technology Deal of the Year Award! MiBiz presents the 8th Annual M&A Deals & Dealmakers Award to spotlight best practices and excellence related to mergers, acquisitions, capital formation and other types of deal making throughout Western Michigan. MiBiz recognizes ten categories for their Deal of the Year awards, and Calder Capital’s client, Foxbright, rose to the top of the Technology category! Founded in 2002 by Paula Whisman and Catherine Ettinger, Foxbright is a software and web services company whose primary goal is to help schools improve and manage their websites. Catherine Ettinger approached Max Friar of Calder Capital in mid-2019 with a desire to transition out of the company. Throughout the preceding years, Catherine had delegated most of her responsibilities and she felt it was time to move onto a different phase of life. Her business partner, Paula, agreed and desired to remain with the business and embraced the idea of transitioning herself to an employee role. Calder put the business on the market confidentially and Hannah Lawrence, a young entrepreneur with a background […]
Calder Advisor Matt Baas Wins “Rising Star” Award in MiBiz 2020 M&A Awards
Calder Capital is proud to announce that one one of our own, Matt Baas, is the winner of the 2020 MiBiz Dealmaker of the Year Rising Star Award! MiBiz recognizes three Dealmakers of the Year, with categories designed to honor individual corporate executives, company advisers, and investors. The individual awards aim to highlight a person’s body of transactional work during the awards timeframe. Matt Baas, Co-Founder of Small Business Deal Advisors, LLC, joined Calder Capital as an intern in 2016 as a rising junior at Michigan State University. During the internship, Matt was introduced to many aspects of the small business M&A market and his intelligence, intense work ethic, and drive immediately stood out. If you met Matt, you would observe quickly that he is patient, analytical, driven and wise beyond his years. “It is not often in life that you meet people with the combination of intelligence, enthusiasm, creativity and even-handedness, and that have accomplished as much as Matt has by age 24,” raved Max Friar. “And I should mention that he is a family man at heart, always making time for his wife, Kaitlyn, and their dog, Stanley.” Nearing the close of Matt’s initial Calder Capital Summer Internship, […]
EOS And Family Business Transition
By Andrew Williams Having invested two decades of their lives into growing their manufacturing business, John and his wife Sandy concluded they were finally ready to retire and spend winters in Hilton Head. However, these first-generation entrepreneurs came to realize that their lives were so intertwined with those of their employee team, selling the business to an outside party was not an option they wanted to pursue. As they discussed options with their long-time CPA, they realized that the best possible successors for the company they had built were already in the building – their five-person management team, of which one of their children was acting President and one was the Vice President of Sales. A meeting with the Leadership Team confirmed the Founder’s hopes that they were excited about the prospect of being the next owners of the business. It also uncovered a larger challenge – the team did not have a significant amount of capital to invest in an acquisition. A second hurdle was that none of the leaders were willing to sign a personal guarantee on any debt that might be used to fund the transfer. The company had been doing business with their current bank for […]
Perceptive Controls, Inc., Of Plainwell, MI Acquired by UpT Reliability Solutions!
Calder Capital, LLC is proud to announce the acquisition of Perceptive Controls, Inc., of Plainwell, MI by UpT Reliability Solutions of Kalamazoo, MI! Founded in 1997 by Todd Reynolds and Ryan Fisher, Perceptive Controls is a systems integrator that supplies process control systems mainly to municipal water/wastewater and industrial/manufacturing customers. For over twenty years, Perceptive Controls has proudly upheld its mission of properly managing each discipline in order to provide a trouble-free, turnkey solution to their clients. Perceptive Controls was partially acquired by UpT Reliability Solutions, LLC. UpT is a newly formed provider of turnkey motor repair, inspection & maintenance, and custom automation and controls to customers nationwide. The purchase of Perceptive Controls was a strategic acquisition for UpT. “When I came across this opportunity, I had a gut feeling that it would be a great fit,” remarked Jason Harloff, Chief Strategic Officer of UpT. “Todd and Ryan have built a great operation, and I’m excited to see how we can expand our reach through the merging of these two companies.” Edson Ramirez and Patrick Robey of Calder Capital, LLC, were the lead Mergers & Acquisitions Advisors on the transaction, working closely with Todd Reynolds and Ryan Fisher to find […]
A Reflection On 2020 “Beyond Our Wildest Dreams”
By Max Friar While 2020 was certainly a dark year in many respects for the world, for the Calder Capital/Small Business Deal Advisors team, it was a year of tremendous focus, innovation, and fearless deal-making. During 2020, we opened four new offices, expanded into two new states, hired four additional staff members, closed 74% more transactions (40 in 2020 vs 23 in 2019), and profitably grew revenue by 85%. Calder/SBDA achieved explosive growth in the face of an overall M&A Industry that declined by 13-15% year-over-year vs 2019 (Sources: Statista). Our achievements are more impressive considering that the smaller deal market has fallen even more precipitously. Analyzing small business sales 2020 vs 2019, there has been a sharp decline of 22% fewer sales as reported by BizBuySell’s nationally-recognized Insight Report. Q1 2020, Off To The Races! As it did for many, 2020 started off with tremendous momentum for Calder/SBDA. Our team hunkered down and executed 13 successful transactions during the first two months of the year. We also welcomed Advisor, Shane Kissack, and the pioneering of our Chicago, IL, office. However, as we all know, January and February were the “easy” months of the year, and are now but a […]
Introducing Jake McDonald: Zone Buster
Introducing Jake McDonald to our Winter/Spring 2021 Semester Internship Program! Here at Calder Capital, we thrive on our culture of learning and curiosity, which is why our internship program is so important. In fact, many of our advisors came to us as undergraduate interns, green and eager to learn! Our internship program is not coffee runs and paper pushing. Our interns work hard behind the scenes at every stage of our M&A process. They keep our prospecting process moving, they have their hands in every financial analysis and valuation, and they collaborate to put together our Confidential Information Memorandum for each client that’s launched to market. Since they’re such an integral part of our team, we want to introduce who’s working behind the scenes for the first few months of 2021. We’re proud to introduce Jake McDonald! Jake is a junior at Grand Valley State University studying Finance and Marketing. He’d like to work in investment banking in Grand Rapids, and eventually purchase and operate his own business. We’d say he’s on a pretty good track towards making that happen! An avid sports lover, Jake plays golf and pick-up basketball, and he’s a religious follower of Michigan Wolverines basketball and […]
Introducing Jakob Simonds: Guacamole Hater
Introducing Jakob Simonds to our Winter/Spring 2021 Semester Internship Program! Here at Calder Capital, we thrive on our culture of learning and curiosity, which is why our internship program is so important. In fact, many of our advisors came to us as undergraduate interns, green and eager to learn! Our internship program is not coffee runs and paper pushing. Our interns work hard behind the scenes at every stage of our M&A process. They keep our prospecting process moving, they have their hands in every financial analysis and valuation, and they collaborate to put together our Confidential Information Memorandum for each client that’s launched to market. Since they’re such an integral part of our team, we want to introduce who’s working behind the scenes for the first few months of 2021. We’re proud to introduce Jakob Simonds! Jakob is a senior at Grand Valley State University. He’s studying Finance with a focus on investments, so he’s a natural fit here at Calder Capital. He lives on black coffee and a willingness to learn from the past, even if that means accepting the mistakes along with the good memories. While Jakob is still dialing in what he’s going to do after […]