A middle-market private equity firm with deep experience in numerous recession resistant industrial subsectors identified an opportunity to merge two of its portfolio companies that operate in the same industry niche. The merging of the two companies, which are both system integrators of digital supply chain, retail, and mobile workforce solutions, would create an industry leader with the largest team of professionals in the space and unlock numerous operational and customer-centric synergies.

In connection with the transaction, Stout was engaged to provide a fairness opinion to the fund’s general partner. Stout’s team performed independent financial analyses regarding the businesses and the proposed transaction terms and presented its findings to the general partner. Ultimately, the private equity firm completed the transaction, providing it with additional time to pursue its strategy for the combined business under its ownership.