Exit · Building Products

Building Products Deals: Exit Preparation Done Right

Independent sponsor counsel for building products, focused on Exit Preparation and the deal mechanics that protect sponsor economics and LP alignment.

EV range $10M to $150M EV EBITDA $2.5M to $25M Audience Independent Sponsor
The deal context

An independent sponsor closing building products transactions in the $10M to $150M EV range has a defined set of moves at the Exit Preparation stage. Most of them are not in a generic M&A textbook.

The typical building products platform sits at $10M to $150M EV with EBITDA in the $2.5M to $25M range. The thesis runs on regional manufacturer or specialty distributor consolidation. Pricing power lives in dealer contracts, not in branding. Read the dealer agreements before the LOI.

The moves

How Exit Preparation actually gets structured.

  1. Clean the cap table 18 months before the planned exit window.

  2. Refresh the IP, employment, and customer contract files for diligence readiness.

  3. Build a quality-of-earnings ready financial package well before bankers come in.

  4. Coordinate sponsor exit economics with the LP waterfall and any rolled-equity holders.

  5. In building products, layer in raw-material pass-through clauses confirmed as part of the Exit Preparation workstream.

The common mistake

Starting exit prep when the banker calls. By then, every fix costs price.

Jason's take
"Exit prep is what separates a 6x outcome from an 8x outcome. The work starts before the banker."
Jason Powell · Exit Preparation
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

Most independent sponsors solve the closing capital and then run into the post-close capital problem alone. The capital markets relationships that matter at month 18 are part of this practice.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
ENGAGE THE PRACTICE

Exit Preparation for Building Products, on independent sponsor terms.

Independent sponsor counsel that already speaks fluent deal-by-deal economics, structures clean LPAs, and travels with capital markets relationships for what comes after close.