LOI · Industrial Services

Industrial Services Equity Rollover: An Independent Sponsor's Counsel

Structuring Equity Rollover on industrial services deals, with the structure protection and capital connectivity an independent sponsor actually needs.

EV range $10M to $130M EV EBITDA $3M to $22M Audience Buy & Sell-side
The deal context

An independent sponsor closing industrial services transactions in the $10M to $130M EV range has a defined set of moves at the Equity Rollover stage. Most of them are not in a generic M&A textbook.

The typical industrial services platform sits at $10M to $130M EV with EBITDA in the $3M to $22M range. The thesis runs on regional consolidation of plant maintenance, specialty contracting, or rentals. An EMR over 1.0 will cost you a half-turn at close unless you fix the story upfront.

The moves

How Equity Rollover actually gets structured.

  1. Anchor on 15 to 25 percent rollover for a clean alignment story.

  2. Treat rollover as tax-deferred under Section 351 or 721 where the structure allows.

  3. Document tag-along and drag-along rights at the rollover level, not just at the LP level.

  4. Cap exit veto rights for rolled equity to avoid future deadlock.

  5. In industrial services, layer in MSA renewal calendar mapped pre-LOI as part of the Equity Rollover workstream.

The common mistake

Rolling at the wrong entity level, triggering an immediate tax event on what was supposed to be deferred.

Jason's take
"Rollover is the cheapest alignment tool on the table. Use it; do not abuse it."
Jason Powell · Equity Rollover
Capital after close

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

The capital that opens up post-close, from refinancing to growth equity to strategic exit, runs through a small set of Wall Street relationships. That network is built in.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
WORK WITH JASON

Bring the industrial services deal. Get Equity Rollover done right.

Direct counsel from a securities and M&A attorney with billions in structured transactions, the independent-sponsor-native playbook, and the capital markets network that opens up post-close.