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Today's Merger & Acquisition Environment for PEOs John R. Hammett Managing Director, Head of M&A Cherry Tree Securities
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© Cherry Tree Securities 2 Topics Historical Transactions Factors Driving M&A Among PEOs Valuation Trends Private Equity Buyers Key Take-Aways
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History
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© Cherry Tree Securities 4 Trend in PEO Deals
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© Cherry Tree Securities 5 Trend in PEO Deals
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© Cherry Tree Securities 6 Trend in PEO Deals
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© Cherry Tree Securities 7 Trend in PEO Deals
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© Cherry Tree Securities 8 Three Significant Activities TeamAmerica – VSource deal falls apart Gevity HR buys Remnants of TeamAmerica TeamStaff EPIX Two new announced acquirers: PML North America Encore Professional Employers
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© Cherry Tree Securities 9 Who's Merging?
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M&A Drivers
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© Cherry Tree Securities 11 PEO History From a Dealmaker's Perspective Start-up & rapid expansion phase: Low-cost of entry Powerful business model Unpenetrated markets Insurance arbitrage promised profits Easy insurance market
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© Cherry Tree Securities 12 PEO History from a Dealmaker's Perspective Health-insurance wave: Tempting self-insurance margins lead to exposure that kills many PEOs Or drives them to merge with others
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© Cherry Tree Securities 13 PEO History from a Dealmaker's Perspective Workers' Comp Wave I Tempting self-insurance margins lead to exposure that kills many PEOs Or drives them to merge with others
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© Cherry Tree Securities 14 PEO History from a Dealmaker's Perspective Workers' Comp Wave II: Major comp insurers pull out of PEO underwriting Kills more PEOs Or drives them to merge with others Or drives them to seek stronger financial partners
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© Cherry Tree Securities 15 PEO History from a Dealmaker's Perspective Scale and Specialty-Driven Phase Economies of scale favor larger PEOs Workforce specialization drives higher margin Medical – technical – professional specialists Traditional labor specialists with industry concentration Winners will be big regional, national, and specialist firms
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Valuation
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© Cherry Tree Securities 17 Valuation Trends Definitions: Enterprise Value (EV) (value without regard to debt, equity, or cash) = Market Capitalization (equity), plus debt, minus cash EBITDA (approximate cash flow before financing or taxes) = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization EV/EBITDA = price or value / earnings EV/WSE = price or value per Worksite Employee
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© Cherry Tree Securities 18 EV/EBITDA Trends
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© Cherry Tree Securities 19 EV/WSE Trends
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© Cherry Tree Securities 20 Valuation Trends
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© Cherry Tree Securities 21 Valuation Trends
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© Cherry Tree Securities 22 Today – 3 Markets Strategic – high value Publics valuation range ~ $3,000 / WSE Buying strong PEOs at ~ $1,000 / WSE at or below 4 to 6 times EBITDA Strategic – bottom feeder Large, medium, & small buying weak PEOs cheaply Private Equity Firms (financial buyers) Buying at 4 to 6+ times EBITDA
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Private Equity Demystified
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© Cherry Tree Securities 24 Private Equity Firms Invest from a fund of capital From $50 million to $ billions Raised from insurance companies, pension funds, endowments, wealthy individuals
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© Cherry Tree Securities 25 Private Equity Firms Today: over $100 billion in uninvested capital We estimate about 1,500 to 1,800 funds in USA Cherry Tree tracks about 900 of them Industry specialists Generalists Deal size ranges
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© Cherry Tree Securities 26 Value from Fund's Perspective Value = expected total cash return Over an expected holding period of 3 to 7 years
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© Cherry Tree Securities 27 Value from Fund's Perspective
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© Cherry Tree Securities 28 Value from Fund's Perspective
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© Cherry Tree Securities 29 Value from Fund's Perspective
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© Cherry Tree Securities 30 Value from Fund's Perspective
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© Cherry Tree Securities 31 Private Equity Value Drivers Predictability of future cash flows Strong management that will stay (for awhile) Demonstrated operating history of earnings Growth potential Demonstrated historical growth Strong industry and macro growth trends Ability to grow without working capital or physical assets Exit opportunity Strategic or bigger financial buyer willing and able to buy Or an IPO
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© Cherry Tree Securities 32 Private Equity Deal Structure Objective: match price and payments to minimize risk Portion in cash Portion in subordinated notes (seller or institution) Portion in share of future earnings (earn-out) Re-invested equity from sellers (10% to 40%)
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© Cherry Tree Securities 33 Private Equity Triage To private equity firms, you are either: 1.A platform 2.A tuck-in 3.Or an Exit
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Key Take-Aways
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© Cherry Tree Securities 35 Key Take-Aways 1.PEO is an active M&A marketplace Deals are fewer, but quality is better 2.Macro trends are continuing to drive consolidation Small firms can't get the insurance at a good price; service demands are increasing Economies and service capabilities of larger firms drive their value higher than smaller ones 3.Owners need to be either a buyer or a seller in the next 3 years 4.Strategics will buy at the bottom – or in the middle of the range 5.Certain Financial buyers will buy profitable PEOs if they believe in management, growth, and an exit
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© Cherry Tree Securities 36 Prepared by: John R. Hammett Managing Director, Head of M&A Cherry Tree Securities 301 Carlson Parkway Minnetonka, Minnesota 55305 952-893-9012 © Cherry tree Securities, LLC all rights reserved
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