Chicago, IL – November 28, 2007; City Capital Advisors, LLC, a Chicago middle market investment bank formed in 2006, announced today that two transactions in which the firm served as financial advisors earlier this year have been nominated by The M&A Advisor as 2007 Deal of the Year award finalists.
The first nomination is for the Media, Entertainment and Telecom Deal of the Year award for the sale of Signature Graphics. This transaction was also nominated for Manufacturing Deal of the Year – Industrial/above $100M. Signature Graphics, Inc., the leading and most comprehensive provider of vehicle fleet graphics and related brand management solutions in North America, was sold to Omnicom, Inc., the world’s largest advertising, media and communications services firm. Signature, a privately held company, retained City Capital to serve as its exclusive financial advisor and selling agent in January 2007. City Capital conducted a targeted direction of the business, which resulted in a highly competitive process yielding numerous proposals, most at or above the Company’s targeted valuation range. Ultimately, the Company’s owners (including its founder and four senior managers) elected to negotiate exclusively with Omnicom, primarily because Omnicom offered the owners an unusually exciting combination of a competitive level of cash consideration at the closing plus unique opportunities to participate in the future profits and equity value accretion of Signature Graphics going forward. The sale closed in August 2007.
The second nomination is also for Manufacturing Deal of the Year – Industrial/Above $100M for the acquisition of Airpax Holdings, Inc. City Capital’s client, Sensata Technologies closed the acquisition of Airpax Holdings, Inc., a manufacturer of components and systems for low voltage power protection, sensing and control applications. City Capital initiated this transaction as a result of having met Sensata in a previous M&A transaction managed by City Capital. The firm contacted Chicago Growth Partners (CGP) regarding their investment in Airpax, a company that City Capital believed would be an ideal acquisition for Sensata, and ultimately introduced the two management team. Sensata then retained City Capital to serve as its exclusive financial advisor in the acquisition of Airpax, a transaction in which a definitive agreement was reached within 35 days of CGP’s decision to entertain an offer.
The 2007 M&A Advisors Awards winners will be revealed at the 6th Annual M&A Advisor Awards Gala in New York City on December 11, 2007. This annual program recognizes and honors top professionals and the deals completed over the last year featuring 26 categories. All the deals entered are considered by judges for the coveted “Deal of the Year” award and “Strategic Acquisition of the Year” award. The judge panel consists of independent experts drawn from the ranks of private-equity firms, law firms, consultants, turnaround managers and business school deans.