- Calder Capital, LLC is a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm for small privately held companies
- The firm grew significantly despite the coronavirus pandemic, which dropped the industry average by roughly 20%; Calder’s revenue grew by 85% and transactions by 74%
About Calder Capital, LLC
Calder Capital is a lower middle market Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Firm focused on representing sellers of industrial, distribution, and business services companies, as well as strategic buyers seeking platform and bolt-on acquisitions in the same market segments.
Founded in 2013 by Max Friar, the boutique mergers and acquisitions firm is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At its core, the company spends its days calculating the value of small privately held companies and subsequently engaging with the owners of those companies to locate buyers and consummate a sale transaction with the buyer that is the best fit in terms of price, purchase structure, and continuity for the business. Typical clients are industrial, distribution, or service businesses with 10-100 employees where the owner has no natural successor and wishes to transition out of their business generally for retirement purposes.
Prior to 2020, Calder operated out of one office and had never broken 23 transactions in a single year. The company had experienced growth in most years of its existence, but 2020 was truly a watershed period in terms of breakout growth, despite COVID negatively affecting the M&A markets. In 2020, the firm opened four new offices and closed 40 successful transactions, which represents an 85% increase in revenue and a 74% increase in closed transactions compared to 2019.
Led by Founder and Managing Partner, Max Friar, the firm took a number of intentional steps that fostered its growth in the face of the coronavirus backdrop that decimated deals nationally by double digits. Calder Capital’s initiatives include: launching a service offering specifically focused on helping distressed/turnaround businesses locate buyers quickly; catalyzing a Franchise Outreach Program specifically targeted at helping franchise owners transition successfully; implementing a sales program that targets 300 business per week to inform them of Calder’s services, and deploying a Buy-Side M&A Services program that guarantees unlisted leads for clients.
Calder’s achievements, particularly in 2020, are significant because M&A transactions were down 13-15% across all sectors internationally and down 22% in US-based small businesses. Despite this, Calder Capital has grown significantly in the face of strongly unfavorable industry headwinds.
Calder Capital won the Gold Stevie Award for Company / Organization Categories - Company of the Year - Financial Services - Small, a Bronze Stevie Award for Company / Organization Categories - Fastest Growing Company of the Year - Up to 100 Employees, and a Bronze Stevie Award for Entrepreneur Categories - Entrepreneur of the Year - Financial Services in The 2021 American Business Awards®.
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