BY Rick Desloge
(reprinted from the St. Louis Business Journal, MAR. 23, 2007)
Nu-Era Group, a nearly 60-year-old company here that supplies store fixtures to Target and other large retailers, has brought in new partners: Bush O'Donnell and the Omnia Group, both of St. Louis.
Neither firm has disclosed financial details, but their investment is allowing Nu-Era, which had been controlled by the Sharon family, to maintain an interest. The deal is also allowing Andrew Sharon, Nu-Era's president, to acquire a larger stake in the business, which had been controlled by his father, Barry Sharon.
The Sharons weighed offers from other investors, including businesses across the country, before settling on Bush O'Donnell and Omnia, Andrew Sharon said. "These are two St. Louis businesses, and that was a factor in our decisions," he said.
Westgate Group in St. Louis served as Nu-Era's business adviser in the deal.
Nu-Era has a staff of 45 with offices in downtown St. Louis and a 150,000-square-foot warehouse at 8000 Hall St. It sells retail display merchandise to approximately 50,000 customers through its Web site and catalog, and another division sells garment racks, display tables, shelving and other merchandising solutions to national retailers including Dillard's, Target and Polo Jeans, Sharon said.
Sharon declined to disclose Nu-Era's revenue, but trade magazine Display & Design Ideas has listed Nu-Era among fixture companies nationally with annual revenue of $25 million to $49 million. Similar fixture business have been valued at about 4.5 times earnings, and the industry has been generating profits of roughly 10 percent of sales, said Kevin Short, a principal with Clayton Capital Partners, an investment banking firm here. If Nu-Era's sales are close to $25 million, the entire recapitalization would have been worth between $10 million and $15 million, said Short.
Bush O'Donnell invested in Nu-Era through its Eagle Fund I, which places a maximum of $4 million in any single investment, according to the company.
Bush O'Donnell also helped arrange debt financing, which came from Southwest Bank, Heartland Bank and Bank of New York.
The Nu-Era investment is the second Omnia and Bush O'Donnell have partnered on. The two companies also bought Western Window Systems in Phoenix last year.
Reprinted with permission from the St. Louis Business Journal,
©2007 all rights reserved.