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Discover Unity Partners’ Recipe for Long-Term Success
Are you ready to dive into the strategies behind building thriving businesses and impactful partnerships? Discover how partnering with the right leaders can transform companies and markets. In this episode, John Block, co-founder and CEO of Unity Partners, takes us through his fascinating journey from childhood aspirations to leading a game-changing firm that builds better businesses together. In this episode, you’ll discover… Why John chose the name “Unity Partners” for his firm The secret mantra that drives Unity Partners’ success How foundational principles can propel business growth Strategies for reducing uncertainty in business success The impact of technology on smaller market investments And more Mentioned in this episode: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnablock/ https://unitypartnerslp.com/ Transcript Patrick Stroth: Hello there, I’m Patrick Stroth, trusted authority in executive and transactional liability and founder of Rubicon M&A Insurance Services, now a proud member of the Liberty Company Insurance Broker Network. Welcome to M&A Masters where I speak with the leading experts in mergers and acquisitions. And we’re all about one thing here. That’s a clean exit for owners, founders, and their investors. Today, I’m joined by John Block, co-founder and CEO of Unity Partners. Unity Partners is a principal space middle market private equity firm, that partners investors and operators to build better together. So I’m really excited to have you. John, welcome to the show. John Block: Thank you, Patrick, excited to be here with you. Patrick: Now before we get into Unity Partners and building better together, let’s start with you. Can you share with us what brought you to this point in your career? John: That’s a great question. I do love to start with that question. I think it’s important to set the table and go back from the beginning. If I think of my experience said, If I think back to childhood,
Case Studies: TLPE Insurance and Tech Companies
There is a new R&W product taking the lower middle market M&A world by storm: Transaction Liability Private Enterprise (TLPE). TLPE insurance is designed to fit a blind spot in deals that Buy-Side R&W policies won’t cover, specifically deals ranging from $1M to now $30M in enterprise value. Historically, these deals have been ineligible for traditional (R&W) coverage. Enter TLPE, which was innovated by London-based CFC Underwriting just one year ago, to offer protection for deals that are either too small or too expensive to justify a Buy-Side R&W policy.
Think of Insurance as a War Chest
You know about the drama with Elon Musk and Twitter. Lawsuits are flying back and forth, with both sides alleging breach of contract after Musk declined to buy the social media giant. For super-billionaires like Musk and multi-billion-dollar companies like Twitter, they have the millions needed for such drama. Money is no object. But most of us don’t have that kind of cash. That means when something goes south during a liquidity event, you need to have the proper insurance coverage in place – and proper level. But I propose that you should think about this insurance as more than
The Next Evolution in Representations and Warranty Insurance
An exciting innovation is coming to Representations and Warranty insurance world, and if you’re a Buyer or Seller in the lower middle market, you need to know about it. This new product is especially useful to serial acquirers. In short: insurtech is coming to M&A… sort of.
M&A Trends for the Rest of 2022 and into 2023
Inflation, a rise in interest rates, and global unrest and uncertainty represent some serious headwinds for the economy right now. But the consensus, from my sources in the M&A world is that dealmaking for the lower middle market has not faltered and will not falter going into the next year. Granted there has been a decrease in the pace of M&A activity when you compare 2022 to 2021, but that’s not a far comparison, as last year we saw record-breaking deal-making thanks to pent-up demand for deals as we emerged from the pandemic. As PricewaterhouseCoopers put it in their Deals
TLPE Insurance and Non-Disclosure Policies
Transaction Liability Private Enterprise insurance (TLPE) is taking the lower middle market M&A world by storm. Unlike traditional R&W insurance, TLPE is a Sell-Side policy where the Seller, rather than the Buyer, is the policyholder. The policy is triggered when the Buyer makes a claim against the Seller. Instead of going after the Seller directly, the Buyer simply collects from the insurer. Sellers benefit from this insurance as well, with TLPE effectively reducing escrow levels in deals from 10% to 1% of the purchase price. (The cost of TLPE is only $10,000 to $20,000 per $1M in Limits.) You can
Current Trends in M&A Add-Ons
Globally, M&A activity so far has declined 23% in 2022 compared to 2021. Yes, that is a significant drop. But, as I wrote in a previous article, you must consider that 2021 was a historic record-breaking year of deal-making. So, in a sense, 2022 has been somewhat of a return to normal. That said, while worldwide M&A activity has declined, what we’ve seen in the U.S. is little or no decline in deal-making. It’s essentially “flat.” This is largely because of the increasingly common practice of purchasing “add-ons” instead of platform companies.
Legal Diligence Reports and R&W Insurance
I’m helping a first-time client place Representations and Warranty (R&W) insurance, and it’s taking a bit of hand-holding on this first go-around as we get quotes from insurers and review other elements of the process. We should all keep in mind that the primary thing Underwriters want to see is thorough due diligence. Otherwise, they are going to be a lot of exclusions in the policy.
It’s Never Too Late for TLPE
It’s Never Too Late for TLPE I was at a conference recently talking with an M&A advisor. One of his clients sold his RV park for about $10M a few months prior. But, he was getting nervous that he has money withheld from the purchase price, in escrow, in case of a breach of the purchase and sale agreement.