Trivest Partners - STOC Advisory

TRIVEST PARTNERS

STOCADVISORY

Transaction Advisory | Corporate Development | Growth Enablement

Trivest manages a portfolio of founder and family-owned businesses across distribution, consumer, manufacturing, healthcare, and business services. We've completed over 200 transactions and understand the specific challenges of evaluating and integrating companies in fragmented, founder-led markets.

TRANSACTION EXECUTION FOR FOUNDER-LED BUSINESSES

What Makes Founder-Led Deals Different

Founder-led businesses like Big Truck Rental or Pelican Water Systems have unique characteristics. Financial statements may not reflect normalized operations. Customer relationships are often personal rather than contractual. Organizational structure might be informal. Working capital patterns can be inconsistent. Standard diligence templates miss these nuances because they're designed for professionally managed companies.

Post-Close Surprises You Want to Avoid

The founder was running personal expenses through the business, but the adjustments weren't documented properly. Key customer relationships were personal, not institutional. Inventory levels were higher than necessary because of informal ordering practices. Systems and controls need to be built, not just documented. These are the issues that surface 60 days after closing when it's too late to adjust the purchase price.

Experience with Distribution and Consumer Businesses

We've completed diligence on equipment rental businesses, water treatment systems, consumer products, and specialty distribution. We understand the economics of fleet utilization, dealer networks, direct-to-consumer channels, and inventory turns in distribution. We know what normal working capital looks like in these businesses and what red flags actually matter versus what's just different from corporate-owned operations.

Global team of 30+ professionals with primary offices in Baltimore, MD and Edina, MN.

DILIGENCE THAT PROTECTS THE DEAL

Quality of Earnings That Actually Normalizes Founder Operations

Founder-led businesses require different normalization than corporate sellers. Personal expenses, family member compensation, informal customer arrangements, and discretionary spending all need to be identified and properly adjusted. Missing these creates post-close disputes about whether the business is actually performing as expected.

We understand how to normalize founder-led operations. We know to look for related party transactions, informal customer agreements, and working capital inefficiencies that are fixable post-close. We document these adjustments thoroughly so there's no ambiguity about what was included in the purchase price versus what needs to be addressed after closing. This protects both the deal and the founder relationship.

Revenue Quality in Distribution and Consumer Businesses

For businesses like Big Truck Rental, revenue quality means understanding utilization rates, contract versus spot pricing, customer concentration in regional markets, and seasonal patterns. For Pelican Water Systems, it means analyzing dealer relationships, direct consumer sales, product mix, and the durability of recurring filter revenue versus one-time system sales.

We assess whether growth is organic or driven by price increases. We evaluate customer concentration in the context of the specific market (three large customers in regional equipment rental may be normal). We identify which revenue streams are defendable and which are at risk. This helps you understand what you're actually buying and what needs to change post-close.

Working Capital Analysis That Identifies Hidden Needs

Founder-led businesses often have inefficient working capital. Excess inventory because of informal ordering. Slow collections because personal relationships matter more than payment terms. Vendor relationships that aren't optimized. These create working capital needs that show up after closing when you try to professionalize operations.

We calculate normalized working capital requirements that account for operational improvements you'll make post-close. We identify where the business is over-capitalized (excess inventory, slow AR) and where it's under-capitalized (aging equipment, deferred maintenance). This prevents surprises when you need to inject additional capital 90 days after closing to support the business properly.

TRIVEST PARTNERS

STOCADVISORY

Transaction Advisory | Corporate Development | Growth Enablement

CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT AND TARGET IDENTIFICATION

Finding Add-Ons for Distribution and Consumer Platforms

For Big Truck Rental, add-on targets might include regional equipment rental companies, specialty truck leasing operations, or complementary equipment categories. For Pelican Water Systems, targets could be water treatment dealers, filtration product lines, or direct-to-consumer brands in adjacent categories. These businesses are typically founder-owned, not actively marketed, and require research beyond broker lists.

We build target lists from industry databases, trade associations, dealer networks, and market research. We validate revenue estimates, ownership structure, and competitive position using public data. We identify companies before they're formally marketed so you can build relationships without competitive pressure. This gives you months of lead time before deals hit the broader market.

Pre-LOI Coordination and Preliminary Analysis

Before signing an LOI, you need preliminary views on whether the business is viable. Are the margins reasonable for the sector? Does the customer concentration make sense? Are there obvious integration issues? Is the working capital appropriate? Getting quick reads on these questions helps you decide whether to proceed and what price makes sense.

We provide preliminary financial analysis based on available information. We identify red flags that should be addressed before signing an LOI. We help you structure the deal to protect against risks that can't be fully diligenced until after LOI execution. This prevents situations where you're locked into exclusivity with a business that has fundamental issues.

POST-CLOSE INTEGRATION AND SUPPORT

Supporting Founders Through the Transition

Trivest doesn't parachute operators into portfolio companies. You preserve company culture and work with existing management teams. This means founders often stay involved during transition, and you need support that helps professionalize operations without disrupting relationships or destroying what made the business successful.

We provide operational support that respects the founder relationship. KPI tracking that shows where the business is performing versus plan. Financial reporting that creates transparency without creating bureaucracy. Integration planning that identifies what needs to change versus what should be preserved. Support that helps the founder succeed in their new role rather than replacing them.

Integration Planning for Add-On Acquisitions

When Big Truck Rental acquires a regional equipment rental company, integration planning needs to address fleet consolidation, location rationalization, pricing harmonization, and system conversion while maintaining customer relationships. When Pelican adds a dealer network or product line, you need to integrate supply chains, align product strategies, and consolidate back office functions without disrupting sales.

We develop integration plans that prioritize quick wins and identify risks. We track integration milestones and flag issues before they become problems. We help portfolio company management teams execute integrations without needing external consultants who don't understand the business. This accelerates value capture and prevents integration failures that destroy deal economics.

UNDERSTANDING TRIVEST'S APPROACH

Closing at LOI Price

Trivest's commitment to close at the LOI price means diligence quality matters. You can't use diligence to renegotiate unless there's fraud or material misrepresentation. Our work needs to be thorough enough to identify real issues before LOI execution, and accurate enough to support the deal price through closing. We understand this dynamic and structure our work accordingly.

Preserving Founder Relationships

When founders stay involved post-close, diligence can't be adversarial. We document issues professionally without creating conflict. We distinguish between items that affect purchase price versus items that are integration opportunities. We help founders understand what professionalization means without implying their prior operations were wrong. This preserves relationships you need post-close.

Supporting Multiple Platform Companies

Trivest manages multiple active platforms across different sectors. When you're running deals on Big Truck Rental, Pelican Water Systems, and several other portfolio companies simultaneously, you need advisors who can handle concurrent work without quality degradation. We're staffed to support multiple deals at once because that's how middle market PE actually operates.

Experience Across Your Portfolio Sectors

We've worked with distribution businesses, consumer products companies, manufacturing operations, healthcare services, and business services. When you need diligence on a pest control company, a water treatment business, and a manufacturing operation in the same quarter, we can shift between sectors without requiring extensive education on each new industry.

We've completed over 200 transactions across distribution, consumer, manufacturing, healthcare, and business services. Our repeat business comes from firms that value thorough diligence, founder-appropriate communication, and post-close support that helps portfolio companies succeed. When you need advisors who understand founder-led businesses and can support Trivest's culture-preserving approach, we bring relevant experience.