5-Property Simultaneous Industrial Sale Leaseback in Alabama and Pennsylvania

Background:

Ascension Advisory represents a private equity backed provider of refractory tear-out and other maintenance services to industrial customers. The private equity firm was evaluating the acquisition of an industry leader in specialized removal services for customers in the steel, aluminum, foundry, chemical, and cement/lime industries and would include 5 manufacturing, storage, and distribution locations that were mission-critical to the company. The private equity firm engaged Ascension to evaluate a sale leaseback simultaneous with its acquisition of the operating business.

Client Objective:

With the tight timeframe of the simultaneous business acquisition, the firm engaged Ascension to run an expedited investor outreach process. The value proposition of the sale leaseback is that it would create substantial arbitrage for the sponsor given the multiple they were paying for the company versus the implied multiple of the sale leaseback transaction. 

Solution:

With extensive experience structuring sensitive, simultaneous sale leasebacks, the Ascension team was able to mobilize quickly and leverage its diverse investor network to bring in multiple competitive offers from qualified institutional buyers. After collecting multiple bids and thoroughly vetting each offer, Ascension and the sponsor collaboratively selected a buyer who offered the most competitive terms and certainty of close. The proceeds from the sale leaseback were applied to the purchase price of the business and allowed the sponsor to effectively reduce the acquisition multiple paid for the operating company.