Pinion Sale to Smith System
a leading SaaS training and compliance
certification platform for the energy industry
has been acquired by
the pioneer and market leader in accident
avoidance training for fleet vehicle drivers
and a portfolio company of
Background
- Evangeline Securities (“Evangeline”) was engaged by the Industrial Solutions Group, LLC, headquartered in Lafayette, LA, to run an auction process for an outright sale of its oilfield service software division known as the OQSG/Pinion (“Pinion” or the “Company”)
- The Company, with an 18-year track record of success, focused primarily on SaaS training and compliance testing for the energy industry, and was owned by local businessmen (“Management”) who wished to deploy the sale proceeds into a different strategic area
- Although consistently cash flow positive, Pinion had not been a core focus of Management, and suffered from limited investment and growth
Process
- After performing a full valuation analysis for the Company, Evangeline launched a robust auction process, personally contacting over 250 strategic and institutional players with 90 NDA’s signed
- The auction process proved extremely successful, leading to nearly 20 term sheets from investors around the country, thus allowing the Company to demand an optimal valuation and an all-cash offer
Result
- Pinion was sold to Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, a Beverly Hills, CA-based private equity firm, who wished to bolt the business onto its existing platform business, Smith System, which focuses on driver safety training across multiple industries
- Management was extremely pleased with the auction result as the valuation achieved precisely matched the range projected in Evangeline’s initial analysis