Prairie Capital Advisors represents Paxton/Patterson LLC in sale to Millpond Equity Partners and Wasena Capital Management
Prairie Capital Advisors Inc. in Oakbrook Terrace recently announced that Paxton/Patterson LLC has been acquired by Millpond Equity Partners LLC and Wasena Capital Management, Inc. Prairie acted as exclusive financial advisor in this transaction to Paxton/Patterson and its shareholders and was led by Terry Bressler and Dan DeLap of Prairie. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Paxton/Patterson was founded in 1962 as an equipment and tool supplier to school "shop classes." The Company today, headquartered in Alsip, Illinois, provides school districts with Career and Technical Education ("CTE") curriculum, related equipment, initial educator training and continued educator support to help students consider their future education and career paths. The Company's unique curriculum utilizes self-directed learning, mastery and real-world challenges to guide and motivate students as they develop skills for their future education and careers.
Millpond is a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on investing in business services companies with a particular interest in the education & training segment. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the Millpond team has more than 60 years of combined private equity and operating experience, which it draws upon to partner with leaders of healthy and growing businesses and to create value.
Wasena is a private equity firm focused on the investment in growth-oriented businesses with between $7.5 and $100.0 million in revenues. Headquartered in Stuart, Florida, the firm focuses on investing in strong, profitable businesses either seeking a financial and strategic partner that can assist in achieving growth-oriented goals or majority owners looking to monetize their equity positions.
"Prairie excelled in the two most important success drivers for our business sale. They were totally focused on our key transaction goals, several of which presented some challenges - and we did achieve our key goals, fully satisfying our owners. A second success driver was their very valuable advice about the M&A market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in us launching our sale at just the perfect time," said Roger Davis, owner of Paxton/Patterson.
"Paxton/Patterson, through their turnkey, custom career labs, provides a highly engaging, hands-on, experiential learning experience for students. The Company is a leader in career and technical education, and we are excited to support them in their next phase of growth," commented Larry Shagrin, partner at Millpond. "We are very excited to partner with the Paxton/Patterson management team to build upon the Company's strong product portfolio, long-term customer relationships and successful track record of growth," added Mark Eidemueller, Managing Principal at Wasena.
"We believe that Paxton/Patterson is a significant player in career and technical education. Millpond and Wasena are excellent partners to position the Company well for the significant growth opportunities in the educational programs industry," said Terry Bressler, managing director at Prairie. "We continue to see strong interest by the private equity community to invest in market-leading companies like Paxton/Patterson," added Dan DeLap, Vice President at Prairie.
About Prairie Capital Advisors
Prairie offers investment banking, ESOP advisory, valuations & opinions and financial reporting valuations to support the growth and ownership transition strategies of middle-market companies. Headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, the company is a leading advisor to closely-held companies nationwide. For more information, visit www.prairiecap.com.