G2 Capital Advisors, a leading full-service investment bank and restructuring advisory firm, announced the continued expansion of its investment banking team today with the addition of Heidi Piché, a managing director in the firm’s consumer and retail group. As Managing Director, Heidi will spearhead the firm’s efforts in the Consumer & Retail industry, leveraging her extensive expertise and industry knowledge to deliver exceptional advisory services to G2 clients within the Consumer & Retail vertical, specifically the restaurant and franchised business sectors.
“We are thrilled to welcome Heidi as a senior member of G2’s consumer and retail team,” said President of G2, Matt Konkle. “Her deep experience and relationships across the consumer and retail space both complement our existing capabilities and reinforce our ability to deliver best-in-class client outcomes.”
Piché brings over 20 years of banking experience, primarily in helping middle-market restaurant companies raise capital for growth and/or M&A activity. Prior to joining G2, Heidi spent 15+ years at Wells Fargo, most recently as a Segment Leader within the Restaurant Finance Group. During her tenure, she was pivotal in establishing Wells Fargo as an industry leader in Restaurant Finance, executing high-profile transactions, fostering valuable client relationships, and developing innovative financial strategies.
Before leading a division of the Restaurant Finance Group, Piché was an officer in the Credit Resolution Group, providing risk management and industry expertise to clients most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She began her tenure at Wells Fargo as a Business Development Officer, managing and developing client relationships, working closely with both founder-owned businesses and private equity sponsors active in the C&R industry. Before joining Wells Fargo, she worked at Bank of America in the Corporate Banking Restaurant Group.
“Heidi’s appointment represents a significant milestone for our firm as we continue to strengthen our position in the consumer and retail sectors,” said Jeffrey Unger, Chairman & CEO of G2 Capital Advisors. “Her expertise and dedication to delivering exceptional client service align perfectly with our mission of providing best-in-class investment banking services. We are delighted to welcome Heidi to our team and look forward to the success she will have on the G2 platform.”
G2 Capital Advisors offers M&A advisory services, including sell-side and buy-side advisory capital markets, operational and financial restructuring, and related strategic advisory services to complement a client’s growth plan. With a distinguished track record of advising on nearly $4 billion in closed M&A transactions, providing integrated investment banking services for high-growth companies in the Consumer & Retail, Industrials & Manufacturing, Technology & Business Services, and Transportation & Logistics industries.
CLIENT
ITOCHU International Inc. is the North American flagship company of the Japan-based trading company, ITOCHU Corporation. Industrious Group Inc. (formerly Enprortech Corp.), wholly owned subsidiary by ITOCHU International Inc., is a leader in maintenance, repairing, and overhauling services (“MRO”) for heavy industrial machinery and equipment throughout North America.
SITUATION
ITOCHU International Inc. and Industrious Group are working to become the leading North American solutions provider for heavy industrial machinery and equipment, bringing together innovative technologies and best-in-class engineering to deliver single-source solutions for the modernization, maintenance, and repair of industrial equipment, facilities, and complex manufacturing systems, through a targeted M&A effort. .
ENGAGEMENT
G2 Capital Advisors, LLC (“G2”) served as the exclusive buy-side advisor to Industrious Group & ITOCHU International Inc., leading a strategic M&A effort focused on identifying and engaging with potential acquisition candidates in the renewable MRO services sector. Industrious Group and ITOCHU International Inc. partnered with G2 to leverage the firms’ deep-rooted expertise across the Industrials and Manufacturing practice area, particularly within the Industrial Equipment MRO segment.
OUTCOME
In May 2023, Industrious Group, having been rebranded from Enprotech Corp., successfully executed the transaction through the acquisition of American Hydro, a leading provider of hydropower turbine services to customers throughout North America.
American Hydro was previously owned by Wärtsilä, a global leader in technology and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. American Hydro is a supplier of hydro upgrades, specializing in the design, engineering, manufacture, installation and servicing of high-performance hydro-turbines and pumps. The business has a full-service modernization offering and capabilities for hydropower plants across North America.
Chris Pascarella, CEO of Industrious Group Corporation commented “The Industrious Group is thrilled to join forces with American Hydro and leverage each other’s expertise to build out a more diverse business unit within the renewables and heavy industrials service market. With the support of our partners, ITOCHU, we have been examining the Hydro landscape and are optimistic in our ability to penetrate this market with Industrious Group’s existing infrastructure, American Hydro’s specialization, and ITOCHU’s global position. We thank the G2 team for running an efficient and collaborative mandate in helping our team partner with the highly reputable American Hydro business.”
Victoria Arrigoni, Managing Director of Industrials and Manufacturing at G2 Capital Advisors commented “It has been an honor to be a part of expanding ITOCHU’s footprint in the hydropower and renewables market. The opportunity for ITOCHU to expand to the hydropower space is a pivotal moment for their machinery division’s go-to-market strategy and positions the group well for further expansion into the renewable energy and other industrial end markets.”
About Industrious Group
Industrious Group is a global provider of high-value-added services, products, systems, and solutions for customers in steel, automotive, beverage, and other heavy industries. The business supports, maintains, repairs, and rebuilds heavy production equipment and controls. They also supply spare parts and sub-assemblies. Industrious Group is a subsidiary of ITOCHU International’s Machinery Division.
American Hydro is a leading hydropower turbine provider in North America. The business is a supplier of hydro upgrades, specializing in the design, manufacture, installation and servicing of high-performance hydro-turbines and pumps. This business is headquartered in York, PA and was previously owned by Wärtsilä. For more information, visit www.ahydro.com.
About ITOCHU International
ITOCHU International Inc. is the North American flagship company of the Japan-based trading company, ITOCHU Corporation. ITOCHU International provides trading services for a portfolio of over twenty subsidiaries and affiliates within their 7 divisions: Textile, General Products & Realty, Energy & Chemicals, Food, Machinery, Metals & Minerals, ICT & Financial Business. For more information, visit www.itochu.com.
About Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä Corporation is a publicly traded Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The business is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. For more information, visit www.wartsila.com.
About G2 Capital Advisors
G2 Capital Advisors provides M&A, capital markets and restructuring advisory services to the middle market. We offer integrated, multi-product and sector-focused services by pairing highly experienced C-level executives with specialist investment bankers. We aspire to be the trusted advisor of choice to our clients including corporations and institutional investors. For more information, visit www.g2capitaladvisors.com.
CLIENT
CongruityHR (“Congruity” or the “Company”) is a leading outsourced human resources (HR) solutions provider offering HR, compliance, payroll, tax administration, employee benefits, and workers’ compensation and safety services to small and medium-sized businesses predominantly in the southeastern U.S. via a professional employer organization (PEO) and administrative services organization (ASO) model. Congruity has been a portfolio company of RFE Investment Partners (“RFE”) since 2021.
SITUATION
Congruity and RFE seek to bring the Company’s services to other small and medium-sized businesses across the United States while maintaining local relationships and brand value. To build on its organic growth momentum, Congruity identified a targeted acquisitions strategy to identify companies that can benefit from a partnership with a national, funded platform while maintaining a sense of autonomy in their market.
ENGAGEMENT
RFE and Congruity engaged G2 Capital Advisors, LLC (“G2”) as the exclusive buy-side advisor to identify acquisition targets that share Congruity’s approach to the industry. G2 built a holistic view of the PEO landscape and conducted market outreach to grow Congruity’s brand awareness and find like-minded PEOs that support a national reach through deep, local relationships.
The process spurred the successful acquisition of Tampa, FL-based PEO JanusHR (“Janus”), a comprehensive, personalized HR services provider based in Tampa, FL. Janus brings PEO expertise and strong regional relationships to bolster Congruity’s growing presence in Florida and Southeast U.S. JanusHR was founded and led by Daneen Gurney, who previously had a 20+ year career with Oasis Outsourcing, where she started as one of the first sales representatives and quickly rose to District Manager, Regional Vice President, and then VP of Strategic Partnerships. Gurney managed eight (8) markets, opened over ten (10) offices, and helped manage several acquisitions for Oasis. Under Gurney’s leadership, JanusHR achieved significant market share in the Tampa Bay region.
“We are excited to welcome Daneen and the Janus team to the Congruity family. They bring a high level of industry expertise to our organization,” said Darrin Hunter, Congruity CEO. “The addition of JanusHR brings great value to Congruity’s portfolio and expands on our commitment to legacy brands, relationships, and people.”
“Daneen and Janus stood out in our market conversations as an excellent fit with the Congruity strategy. Sharing the Congruity narrative with her and cultivating a relationship over time to ready her for a partnership revealed an exciting strategic fit and business opportunity. This is a great credential for the Congruity model and enhances our continued work in the market. We are glad to support Janus’ partnership with Congruity and are energized to realize more successes together in 2023,” shared Kerri Ford, Managing Director at G2 Capital Advisors.
About CongruityHR
CongruityHR is a Human Resource outsourcing company providing HR, compliance, payroll, tax administration, employee benefits, and workers’ compensation and safety services to small and medium-sized businesses predominantly in the southeastern U.S. via a professional employer organization (PEO) and administrative services organization (ASO) model.
About JanusHR
A Tampa-based PEO, JanusHR provides comprehensive, personalized HR services for small to medium-sized businesses across Florida.
About RFE Investment Partners
RFE Investment Partners is a private equity firm focused on making control investments in established small market companies in the United States. RFE is a long-standing firm founded in 1980 with over 40 years of experience investing in the lower middle market. RFE’s investment strategy is to transform its portfolio companies from the lower end of the market to fully professionalized and market-leading middle-market companies. RFE is currently investing out of Fund IX.
CONTACTS ON THIS DEAL:
Kerri Ford, Managing Director, Head of Technology & Business Services
T: 917.515.7585 E: [email protected]
Jereme LeBlanc, Managing Director, Buy-Side
T: 917.541.5164 E: [email protected]
Zachary Kalman, Associate
T: 413.351.1491 E: [email protected]
Jeremy Caulkins, Associate
T: 585.645.4472 E: [email protected]
THE 2023 BANKING FAILURES
Two weeks ago, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) became known as the second-largest commercial bank failure in the history of the United States. In the days that followed the collapse, global financial markets witnessed intense turbulence, with several additional dislocations in the bank and credit markets and mounting distress across institutions that had been struggling against the backdrop of a sharp rise in interest rates this past year. With rapidly evolving, dynamic capital markets combined with the media frenzy surrounding the global economy, many fear what could come next. Investors and business owners should focus on safeguarding their businesses for the future.
The G2 team supports its clients and industry partners regardless of circumstances. We guide companies through moments of complexity or rapid change through our deep operational experience and dedicated financial advisory expertise. Over the last 12 years, we have helped over 400 clients navigate complex situations across up and downtrend market cycles.
If you are seeking guidance or looking to better understand potential business implications of the present state of the economy, G2 is here to help. Our restructuring & insolvency, capital markets, investment banking, and interim management teams are ready to extend support through these uncertain times.
You are not alone. Here are some of the ways we can help:
- Our restructuring and insolvency advisors can help triage portfolio exposure and evaluate risk for borrowers/portfolio companies.
- Our capital markets team can secure additional financing to ensure your companies have sufficient liquidity.
- Our team of over 50 professionals is ready to support complex operational needs in helping your company proactively adapt to the changing environment, reduce costs, develop forecasts, and manage liquidity.
- We have a deep bench of interim management executives and subject matter experts to deploy as CEOs, CROs, or CFOs for short or long-term assignments to help your companies navigate the current environment.
Reach out to learn more about how we can support you today.
G2 CAPITAL ADVISORS SERVED AS THE EXCLUSIVE BUY-SIDE ADVISOR TO PEAK TOOLWORKS ON ITS ACQUISITION OF EXPERT DIE INC., A LEADER IN BLADE SALES AND SHARPENING SERVICES ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES.
CLIENT
Peak Toolworks (“Peak”) is North America’s largest manufacturer of engineered diamond and carbide cutting tools serving the secondary woodworking, metal, composite, and other end markets. With two manufacturing facilities and 12 service centers across the United States and Canada, Peak provides customers a regionally focused network of direct sales and service, offering direct access to the top cutting tool brands from one convenient source. Peak puts people first in everything they do, allowing them to be a trusted, reliable partner for their clients.
SITUATION
Peak has a well-established reputation as the largest network in North America for cutting tools. To advance its service offering and capabilities to better service its clients, Peak implemented a successful M&A strategy to partner with a business that expands their geographical presence and service capabilities.
ENGAGEMENT
G2 Capital Advisors, LLC (“G2”) served as the exclusive buy-side advisor to Peak, leading a bespoke buy-side effort focused on identifying and engaging with businesses with a strong market presence and service offering within the cutting & sharpening industry.
OUTCOME
G2’s mandate with Peak Toolworks began in 2020 and led to the successful acquisition of Expert Die Inc. The acquisition brings industrial knife sharpening to the Peak service portfolio, offering new sharpening & repair locations as well as new sales capabilities to Peak’s existing customers. Additionally, Peak’s acquisition of Expert Die Inc. creates new relationships that will lead to new avenues for growth.
Kerry Baskins, President & CEO of Peak Toolworks, commented, “I am excited to add Expert Die to the Peak family. We are pleased with the work G2 Capital Advisors dedicated to this acquisition to help share our culture, goals, and vision with Expert Die.”
“Expert Die, Inc. has an exceptional brand name and reputation. This acquisition will significantly grow Peaks footprint while also increasing our ability to drive additional value for our customers across the country. We are excited to continue executing on the Peak strategy and look forward to the company’s further growth.”
CONTACTS ON THIS DEAL:
Victoria Arrigoni, MD, Head of Industrials & Manufacturing M: 619.742.6441 E: [email protected]
Matt Ball, Vice President M: 978.914.4421 E: [email protected]
Zachary Kalman, Associate M: 413-351-1491 E: [email protected]
CLIENT
PureRED is a leading marketing, data, and technology partner delivering digital content at scale. With over 50 years of experience, PureRED works with 14 of the largest 25 retailers in the country and provides fully integrated marketing and advertising capabilities for Fortune 500 brands across retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services, and specialty brands.
SITUATION
Throughout its partnership with RFE, PureRED has grown and evolved as a marketing services business. To deeper serve its customers, PureRED sought additional strategic capabilities across retail marketing, technology-enabled, and analytics solutions. The team enlisted G2’s M&A advisory solution to enhance an extensive organic initiative to expand digital capabilities.
ENGAGEMENT
G2 Capital Advisors, LLC (“G2”) partnered with RFE Investment Partners and PureRed Management as the exclusive buy-side advisor to the Company. The partnership included a comprehensive strategy definition process to identify accretive growth opportunities and targeted outreach to relevant candidates in the marketing services industry.
OUTCOME
G2’s mandate with PureRED brought a successful acquisition of Haddad & Partners, a leading design and digital agency. The Fairfield, CT-based company maintains a global footprint to deliver design, copy & content, animation, digital delivery, and analytics solutions for multi-national brands in technology, financial services, and consumer products industries.
“This is a great day and we are energized about the possibilities this new partnership affords our clients and teammates,” said Brian Cohen, CEO at PureRED and H&P. “H&P’s expertise in content creation, innovation, and digital delivery complements PureRED’s technology, data, and creative offerings seamlessly. DJ and his team have built an impressive company, and their culture aligns perfectly with ours. The future is bright for all of us.”
“This is the next evolutionary step for H&P and we’re beyond excited to be taking it with PureRED. This move expands our talent pool and capabilities, and it also provides our clients with plenty of new offerings, while giving our global team some amazing opportunities for growth,” said DJ Haddad, Founder and Chief Creative Officer at H&P. “We look forward to the exchanging of cultures and ideas between our two companies and the benefits it’ll bring to all of our clients.”
Andrew Keleher, Director of Business Development at G2 Capital Advisors, and lead contact on G2’s engagement with RFE and PureRED added, “It is incredible to see these businesses join together. Through our close relationship with RFE, we built a robust strategy to support PureRED via add-on acquisitions. It is exciting to see how well DJ and Haddad & Partners fit that strategy, and we are thrilled to see how the businesses will continue to strengthen each other as a combined organization. G2 is looking forward to supporting continued growth for the organization in 2023.”
About PureRED
PureRED is an award-winning, 600+ associate, PE-owned advertising, marketing, and technology company that creates and distributes digital content at scale for 14 of the largest 25 retailers in the US and provides Fully Integrated Advertising and Marketing solutions for Fortune 500 Consumer and Retail brands.
About Haddad & Partners
Haddad & Partners is a full-service, global creative agency made up of a veteran team of problem solvers, designers, copywriters, animators, developers, video producers, and all-around doers. Since 2007, they’ve worked tirelessly for some of the world’s biggest brands, such as Microsoft, Amazon, TD Bank, Fannie Mae, and Total Wine & More, in generating innovative and measurable creative campaigns while never losing sight of the importance of maintaining a highly collaborative remote working environment.
About RFE Investment Partners
RFE Investment Partners is a private equity firm focused on making control investments in established small market companies located in the United States. RFE is a long-standing firm founded in 1980 with over 40 years of experience investing in the lower middle market. RFE’s investment strategy is to transform its portfolio companies from the lower end of the market to fully professionalized and market-leading middle-market companies. RFE is currently investing out of Fund IX.
About G2 Capital Advisors
G2 Capital Advisors provides M&A, capital markets, and restructuring advisory services to the middle market. We offer integrated, multi-product, and sector-focused services by pairing highly experienced C-level executives with specialist investment bankers. We aspire to be the trusted advisor to our clients, including corporations and institutional investors.
CONTACTS ON THIS DEAL:
Andrew Keleher, Director, Business Development T: 860.748.6480 E: [email protected]
Ben Stevenson, Associate: T: 412.680.9100 E: [email protected]
Jeremy Caulkins, Associate: T: 585.645.4472 E: [email protected]
Jereme LeBlanc, Managing Director, Buy-Side T: 917.541.5164 E: [email protected]
G2 Capital Advisors is pleased to present its Consumer & Retail, Industrials & Manufacturing, Technology & Business Services, and Transportation & Logistics market updates. Click to download the full reports, including commentary and analysis on Q4 M&A and market trends within our core focus sectors.
Consumer & Retail Market Trends:
While retail foot traffic rose for practically all categories, it wasn’t enough to counter the effects of inflation combined with deep holiday discounting. Inflation was up 6.5% from year-ago levels – while lower than the peaks seen earlier in the year, it was enough to dampen consumer confidence heading into holiday shopping. Moreover, food prices continue to climb, driving consumers to devote more of their dollars to necessities rather than discretionary goods.
Industrials & Manufacturing Market Trends:
After two years of pandemic-fueled disruption, a host of new challenges arose in 2022 for packaging businesses as increased inflation and interest rates, the war in Ukraine, and commodity prices hitting historic highs, impacted the pace of M&A activity. Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, the appetite among private equity groups and strategic buyers for well-established packaging companies remained high.
Technology & Business Services Market Trends:
The US economic outlook remains unclear with a general negative sentiment. Increasing interest rates, supply chain issues, and geopolitical uncertainty are putting pressure on multiples in many segments of the market. Value creation and a focus on fundamentals will be key themes in 2023 with businesses and investors intent on how they build value organically and inorganically in line with core growth theses. For many privacy equity firms, the near-term focus will likely be on add-on acquisitions that enhance existing portfolio companies.
Transportation & Logistics Market Update:
As transportation and logistics providers navigate an uncertain economic and freight environment, operators in California are faced with an additional challenge as Assembly Bill 5 California (“AB5”) takes effect following numerous legal battles. AB5, which became state law in 2019, requires companies to reclassify many independent contractors as employees, prohibiting trucking companies from working with owner-operators and 1099 drivers in California. In an environment where a driver shortage persists, eliminating a strategy that provides trucking companies scalability and flexibility could have lasting implications across the freight market.
Questions? Please reach out to our team below.
Our team focuses on assisting private equity partners by providing high quality deal flow, add on acquisition, capital markets and restructuring support. G2 continues to invest in the private equity community as trusted partners of choice.
2022 SELECT TRANSACTIONS COMPLETED WITH SPONSORS
PARTNERS FROM BEGINNING TO END.
G2 Capital Advisors provides M&A, capital markets, and restructuring advisory services to the middle market. We offer integrated, multi-product, and sector-focused services by pairing highly experienced C-level executives with specialist investment bankers. We aspire to be the trusted advisor of choice.
CAPABILITIES:
INDUSTRY FOCUS:
G2 Capital Advisors announced today that its client ITOCHU International Inc. (‘ITOCHU’ or the ‘Company) and its subsidiary Enprotech Corp has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire American Hydro, a Wärtsilä Corporation business.
American Hydro is a leading North American provider of custom hydropower refurbishment solutions and turbine services. The Company leverages world-class advanced engineering, precision machining, large fabrication, and field services capabilities to power North American hydroelectric production.
Victoria Arrigoni, Managing Director & Head of Industrials and Manufacturing at G2 Capital Advisors commented “It has been an honor to be a part of expanding ITOCHU’s footprint in the hydropower and renewables market. The opportunity for ITOCHU to expand to the hydropower space is a pivotal moment for their machinery division’s go-to-market strategy.”
The addition of American Hydro to ITOCHU’s portfolio of businesses will expand industry segmentation into the renewable energy sector and position the organization to become a leading North American maintenance, repair, remanufacture and optimization solutions provider for heavy-industrial machinery and equipment.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of calendar 2023.
| Primary Deal Contact: Victoria Arrigoni MD, Head of Industrials & Manufacturing [email protected] | Media Contact: Jennifer Johnson VP, Head of Marketing [email protected] |
Record-breaking post-Holiday sales masked a marked slowdown in overall retail spending. Despite Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales surpassing $20 billion for the first time in history, U.S. retail spending experienced its most significant decline of the year, suggesting households are making strategic financial decisions as they plan for the road ahead. The economy remains at an unprecedented crossroads, with many questions looming:
Will inflation continue to slow, and how much further could interest rates rise? The Fed continues to raise rates at a slightly slower pace and has signaled its intention to continue doing so at least through the spring.
Will a slightly slowing economy morph into a full-blown recession, and will the labor market remain strong? While sales and margins show signs of softening, the labor market continues to defy expectations, making it hard for the Federal Reserve to further ease the policy. Layoffs in the technology, media and real estate industries make headlines. Still, they represent a minuscule portion of the labor force, with overall jobless claims falling by 20,000.
How much longer will pandemic-era savings and easing supply chains buttress consumer spending, and will they continue to spend more on necessities? While personal savings soared to nearly $6.5 trillion in 2020, they’ve since dropped to below $500 billion, lower than the $1.4 trillion pre-pandemic. Despite supply chain imbalances driving discount sales as retailers looked to shed excess inventory, consumers are focusing their budgets on food and other staples and spending less on holiday categories such as electronics, clothing, and sporting goods.
Ultimately, is a recession inevitable, and how bad might it get? This remains anyone’s prediction, but for business owners, management teams, and industry leaders, any level of uncertainty should be met head-on – waiting to seek clarity can be a losing move.
Connect with G2 to discuss your 2023 strategic objectives. At G2 Capital Advisors, deep sector and operational expertise underscore our dedication to achieving success at all costs. We support clients through both healthy market cycles and times of distress, with a refusal to fail. We provide highly tailored advice to company-specific circumstances in an ever-changing world. Reach out today to start the conversation.