Brazos Partners
Brazos Partners
People:
• Bowers and Clayton – they seem to have built a strong business, and are not selling because they think that there is something wrong with the business or it has topped out. I believe that because Bowers is staying on to handle marketing and sales, the transition should be relatively smooth
• Brazos Partners – these three men bring a unique set of skills to the table. The private equity experience from Fronterhouse and McGee seems pretty standard with running a fund like this. I think that the skill set of Fojtasek gives the Brazos partners a competitive advantage because of his specific experience with LBO’s that competitors very well might have.
• One concern I have for the Brazos Partners is the fact that they are feeling pressure to finish a deal. This is never an ideal thing, because it can lead to poor deals being pursued. They need to make sure this is a deal they would pursue if they had no pressure.
Opportunity:
• Though the LBO market is not as flooded and lucrative as it was in the 80’s, I believe the right team can still make a good return. This group clearly has no problem raising capital, so I think that a decline in the returns and popularity of LBO’s could prove to be a positive for the team as they will have less competition.
• Because Comark sells primarily to the government and educational institutions, the risk of recession or downturn is low, but I think this is also a negative for potential growth (long term).
• Comark is clearly running at full capacity, and I believe that an injection of capital will provide sustainable growth for the business. I think the business should continue its focus on selling to the government, but as soon as the company gets to a place where there is idle capacity, begin to turn its marketing focus more toward the private sector.
• I think the fact that Comark both manufactures and sells directly to the customer is a competitive advantage because they can undersell the competition.
People:
• Bowers and Clayton – they seem to have built a strong business, and are not selling because they think that there is something wrong with the business or it has topped out. I believe that because Bowers is staying on to handle marketing and sales, the transition should be relatively smooth
• Brazos Partners – these three men bring a unique set of skills to the table. The private equity experience from Fronterhouse and McGee seems pretty standard with running a fund like this. I think that the skill set of Fojtasek gives the Brazos partners a competitive advantage because of his specific experience with LBO’s that competitors very well might have.
• One concern I have for the Brazos Partners is the fact that they are feeling pressure to finish a deal. This is never an ideal thing, because it can lead to poor deals being pursued. They need to make sure this is a deal they would pursue if they had no pressure.
Opportunity:
• Though the LBO market is not as flooded and lucrative as it was in the 80’s, I believe the right team can still make a good return. This group clearly has no problem raising capital, so I think that a decline in the returns and popularity of LBO’s could prove to be a positive for the team as they will have less competition.
• Because Comark sells primarily to the government and educational institutions, the risk of recession or downturn is low, but I think this is also a negative for potential growth (long term).
• Comark is clearly running at full capacity, and I believe that an injection of capital will provide sustainable growth for the business. I think the business should continue its focus on selling to the government, but as soon as the company gets to a place where there is idle capacity, begin to turn its marketing focus more toward the private sector.
• I think the fact that Comark both manufactures and sells directly to the customer is a competitive advantage because they can undersell the competition.