Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
I'm looking for one business to buy and run for the next 35 years.
I'm Jack Boyle. I've run operations at manufacturers large and small, advised on acquisitions at both ends of that range, and led a small business through one myself. Now I'm looking for one company in Western Pennsylvania to buy from its owner and run for a long time. The equity and debt financing are committed.
For owners
I grew up in a small town in Wyoming, working in my parents' electrical contracting business. My dad ran it for 25 years. In a town that size you run into your customers and your employees at the grocery store, and everything you do is under a microscope. When a customer stiffed him, he still had to be the bigger person and do the work right, because his name was on the company.
When he was ready to step back, he sold it to one of his employees. I think that's the best way a business like his can change hands. A lot of good companies don't have someone inside who's ready to take it over and can get it financed, and those owners deserve a good outcome too.
Later I ran George Howe Coffee in Grove City. I led our team of 14 through buying a competing roaster whose owner was stepping back. His crew stayed with us, and together we grew the volume by 10x.
When I put an offer together, I'm trying to get it right for three parties: you, me, and most importantly the business after the sale. I want your people to stay and your customers to keep calling. Your reputation is an asset, and I want to protect it and keep growing it.
I'm one person looking for one business to buy and run for a long time, not a fund building a portfolio. If you're starting to think about what comes next, I'd like 20 minutes to hear how you built your company.
Meet Jack Boyle
I have worked both sides of a deal, and I have run the business afterward.
At Howe Coffee I led the purchase of a competitor whose owner was stepping back, then ran the combined business. We grew volume tenfold, put in an ERP system, and took the plant through Safe Quality Food certification. All of it on a supply chain priced off a commodity that would not sit still.
The business runs without me now, which is why I left to look for my own.
Before that I ran budgeting and cost work for a $1B manufacturing operation at PPG Aerospace. At EY-Parthenon I advised on acquisitions. I studied at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon.
What I am looking for
If most of this sounds like your company, we should talk. None of it is a hard rule. Good businesses rarely fit a box exactly, and I would rather hear from you and find out than miss you over a line on a page.
Western Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh and the region around it. Anywhere I can drive to in a morning.
$500K to $1.5M
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, with your compensation and personal expenses added back. Roughly $2M to $15M of revenue depending on the business, at 3.0 to 4.5 times.
Retiring or stepping back
You have run it a long time and you are thinking about what is next. No successor inside, and the family is not taking it over.
Steady and profitable
Consistent cash flow, real customer relationships, and no single account that would sink you if it left.
Yours, not mine
Six months or two years. I am not working against a fund clock, so we move at the speed you are comfortable with.
A private equity buyer
I am one person looking for one business to buy and run for a long time, not a fund building a portfolio.
Businesses that make things or keep things running
Mission critical products and services that commercial customers have to keep buying. If your name is on a truck or a building permit somewhere in Western Pennsylvania, you are probably on my list.
Manufacturing and distribution
Companies that make or move a physical product.
- Batch production and assembly
- Fabrication, building materials and commercial products
- Warehousing and multimodal distribution
- Value added distribution and supply chain services
Home and commercial trades
Skilled work on buildings, and the products that go into them.
- Plumbing, electrical and HVAC
- Roofing, windows, flooring and coatings
- Painting, arborists and specialty trades
- Restoration and remediation
Commercial and industrial services
Work other companies and municipalities have to keep buying.
- Fire protection and access control
- Overhead cranes, pumps and compressors
- Machinery servicing, calibration and compliance driven operations
- Industrial cleaning, septic, grease trap and hazardous material handling
- Managed IT, cybersecurity and workflow automation
Five steps, at your pace
We talk
A phone call. Twenty minutes to hear how you built it and what you want out of the next few years. Most of these calls are just a good conversation about a business, and that is fine by me.
I come see it
I walk the floor, meet the people, and see how the work actually gets done. This is also where you decide whether I am someone you would hand it to.
A number, in writing
If it fits, we agree on price and terms and I put it in a letter of intent. No drawn out guessing about what I think it is worth.
Diligence
Financial, operational, legal. I am thorough because I am buying one company and I intend to run it for a long time. We plan the handoff while this runs.
Close and hand off
We sign, the funds wire, and I take over as the operator on day one. You step back on the schedule that works for you and the business. The doors stay open, the crew stays employed, the phone gets answered the same way.
Before you ask, here is where I stand
Every owner asks a version of these. Rather than wait for the question, here are the answers up front.
Your people keep their jobs
The crew is most of what I am buying. I am not cutting my way to a return. I need the people who make it work.
The name stays on the building
The name, the location, the customer relationships. You spent years building that reputation. Keeping it is the entire point of buying rather than starting.
I am not flipping it
A private equity fund buys companies and sells them on a schedule set by its investors. I am buying one and running it. Nobody is holding a clock over me.
You set the exit timeline
Some owners want out in ninety days. Some want to stay two years and hand off properly. Both work.
The capital is committed
Both the equity and the debt financing. There is no fund to raise and no financing contingency invented after we agree.
You will hear no quickly
If it is not a fit I will say so on the first call. Your time is worth more than my option value.
Contact me
Owners thinking about the next chapter. Advisors with a business that fits. Anyone who wants to understand how this works. Use the form or email me, whichever you prefer.