Confident Business Ownership Transition
Building upon your tireless commitment to your company
Our Role
At AAKEN Holdings, we provide the opportunity for business owners to successfully transition a privately held company to an organizational leader who will build upon years of dedication and commitment. You have put blood, sweat, and tears into your business. Our goal during and after an acquisition is to actively engage with you, your team, and your industry to sustain and add value for years to come. With AAKEN Holdings, your business is more than just a transaction – we prioritize your company’s people and your business relationships, identifying opportunities to make positive value-added contributions.
Our legacy is encapsulated in our trademark:
Fix Companies, Create Value, Save Jobs™
Our Approach
People
Positive company culture and an empowered work environment are top-of-mind. We strive to make a positive impact on both business owners and their employees at all levels. Some of our best results come from acting on the inspirations of front-line employees.
Process
Assessing company dynamics helps increase efficiency. We thoroughly evaluate past performance across and between all operations to identify technology and process changes that will produce better results. Then, we engage with all team members to adopt and implement continuous improvements. This is an exciting, challenging, and fruitful time for everyone.
Purpose
People process purpose. When people know why they are doing their work and the importance of it, they will process their work differently, better. We believe that everyone, regardless of position, can go home to the people they love with a sense of pride and satisfaction. It’s one of the undervalued ingredients of a great company.
Our Acquisition Criteria
What sets us apart from Private Equity? Typically, a private equity firm struggles with less than perfect companies. The first filter is always financial. HOW MUCH does the company make? Just because a financial engineer has access to capital does not mean they will be a good, post-transaction steward. Many of them struggle because they lack operating expertise. Typical Solution: Only buy perfect companies.
We are far more interested in knowing WHY your company makes money. What is the unique combination of resources that creates value? There is a story to be told, opportunities to be understood, resources to be acquired, action to be taken. We focus on the company and its unique combination of resources that make it more, or less, successful in its respective industry. Then, we formulate a go-forward strategy that will help the company win the game. We call it Playing Down the Chessboard®.
We are not buying the past . . . we are creating a future.
Financing & Testimonial
AAKEN Holdings Primary Source of Financing is Bond Capital based in Vancouver, BC.
Bond Capital invested in an industrial equipment manufacturer in December 2018. Immediately following the transaction, the company became a turn-around situation. Andy Peters took over as CEO post-transaction. Bond Capital entrusted Andy with additional working capital to save the company. Andy led the re-invention and restructuring of the company, met the financial projections he provided, and returned the company to profitability. Andy hired a successor President and continues to serve Cambelt as a Director. In addition to his advisory role at Cambelt, Bond Capital hires AAKEN to perform operational due diligence on other investments.
“We encourage you to work with Andy, as described here, so that he can present an investment thesis regarding your company. Bond Capital would be pleased to evaluate transactions Andy considers a worthy investment. In addition to acquisitions (change in control transactions), AAKEN’s primary objective, Bond Capital will also consider debt financing investments, as needed.”
—Davis Vaitkunas & Corry Silbernagel, Bond Capital