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DEALMAKER OF THE YEAR: ADVISER
Patrick Robey has spent his career working on mergers and acquisitions.
Along the way, Robey has seen how important good advisers are to the people involved in the deals.
Originally from Jackson, Mich., Robey attended Hope College. After graduating, he started his career with JP Morgan and later worked for Grand Rapids-based Blackford Capital in a private equity position. Now, Robey serves as a director at Calder Capital, a position he has held since 2016.
“It’s definitely an honor to kind of be able to do this business,” Robey said.
“Oftentimes, next to who they’re marrying or things like that, this is the biggest decision a lot of these folks make when they sell their company,” Robey said.
Robey was named the winner in the adviser category of the 2024 Dealmaker of the Year Awards from Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.
When working on a deal, Robey said he seeks to ingrain himself into the company and be able to “describe the company as well as the owner does.” Additionally, Robey aims to be transparent and have tough conversations about goals with clients to have a successful deal.
For example, Robey advised Yan Vinarskiy as a first-time buyer of Aurora, Ill.-based Floorguard Products last September.
While the terms of the transaction structure weren’t particularly complicated, there were factors on the seller’s end, Robey said. Within the dealmaking process, Robey structured a single-source debt financing solution, avoiding a complex cap table and safeguarding the sponsor’s equity upside.
The nature of this deal with an independent buyer highlights the larger landscape of what sellers are looking for in terms of buyers.
Although the M&A space isn’t necessarily “cooling on private equity,” Robey said business owners are questioning what they want the future of the business to look like after a sale and if they want to see their business “change hands three or four times” after it was originally sold.
In cases like the deal with Vinarskiy and Floorguard, there can be a better chance of having a culture and continuity with an individual buyer with a capital team than other firms, Robey said.
Since West Michigan is a smaller region when it comes to local investment banks and financial buyers — although Robey notes it’s growing quickly — companies have different expectations in the buying and selling process. For Robey, this means staying attuned to client needs and using a network to navigate and make deals in West Michigan.
Looking ahead, Robey said he sees “a lot of liquidity on the financial buyer side” and an appetite for strategic acquisitions this year.
“I think that demand for deals is outpacing supply quite a bit right now,” Robey said. “Having said that, quality companies are getting snatched up immediately and for good multiples.”
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