American Mobility and Guest Services, Inc.
About the company
Boston-based American Mobility and Guest Services, Inc. is a quintessential entrepreneurial success story. Backed by private equity, it literally rose from one man who had the insight that the same strategies commercial fleet managers use could be deployed to manage strollers, wheelchairs and other personal mobility devices that are becoming ubiquitous at shopping malls, zoos and theme parks around the country.
The company, which operates as ScooterBug, now designs, sources, manages and services a complete line of highly functional and engineered mobility products and serves clients nationwide. It is solidly profitable, with strong, free cash flow and strong client relationships with leading entertainment and hospitality venues, including Six Flags, The Mall of America, and the San Diego Zoo.
Situation Overview
With American Mobility’s private equity backers approaching the end of their investment cycle, Quarton Partners was engaged to sell the company in a challenging market environment.
The Quarton Group Difference
Quarton’s marketing strategy was to position the company, which had no true competitors and a dominant market position, as a growth property. That meant focusing on strong underlying demand drivers, including an aging U.S. population and its recent success in penetrating new markets, such as the casino industry and new entertainment venues in Asia.
Quarton also clearly articulated the company’s strategy for optimizing free cash flow, a critical issue for prospective buyers given American Mobility’s capital-intensive business model and reliance on end markets driven by discretionary consumer purchases.
To mitigate the risk of financing the transaction, Quarton engaged in a pre-marketing process with numerous financing sources.
The Result
The thoroughness of the presentation, combined with Quarton’s strategy to secure financing prior to the sale, ultimately proved to be fortuitous. Discussions with a Miami-based investment firm led very quickly to a decision by the firm to fund the entire transaction.
