News

08/23/2023

Dickinson Williams advises on the recapitalization of Brandito, LLC

Dickinson Williams & Company served as the exclusive financial advisor to Brandito, LLC (“Brandito” or the “Company”), a leading marketing services platform focused on promotional product sourcing, customized e-commerce stores, warehousing and fulfillment, and creative marketing services, in its recapitalization by Monroe Street Partners (“MSP”).

Brandito was founded in 2009 by Michael Lovern and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The Company has developed a comprehensive platform of interconnected promotional product services, providing its 600+ customers with a better buying experience. Brandito’s suite of services and sourcing of high quality, customized products, enable its customers to elevate the impressions of their brand, heighten employee engagement and retention, and enhance their corporate conference and trade show experiences. Inc. 5000 has consistently recognized Brandito as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S., and recently named the Company to the list for the eighth consecutive year.

Michael Lovern will maintain a material ownership stake in Brandito and will continue to serve as the Company’s President. Lovern stated, “I am thrilled for the opportunity to partner with MSP to execute on our shared vision of accelerating growth. MSP’s strategic guidance, deep operating resources, and equity capital will allow Brandito to create substantial value for our customers and employees. We remain committed to our core values of authenticity, service, and giving.”

With Brandito’s new partner, management seeks to accelerate growth and diversification through several strategic initiatives, including expanding its warehousing, logistics, and kitting operations into new geographies, broadening the Company’s e-commerce solutions, and pursuing targeted acquisitions in the highly fragmented U.S. promotional products space.

“Given our lofty goals, we needed to identify the perfect buyer. To do so, we knew we needed to find a great team to represent us. I am incredibly thankful that we found Dickinson Williams,” said Michael Lovern. “They helped guide us every step of the way while genuinely understanding our business and our goals. A partner should be an extension of your team; they were precisely that.”

“Michael has built a talented and energetic team that shapes Brandito’s unique culture, drives the Company’s growth, and maintains an unwavering focus of the experience of its customers. It was an incredible opportunity for our team to work with such a passionate and professional client team, and to help Brandito identify the right partner to support the continued growth of the Company” said Harold Williams, Managing Director of Dickinson Williams.

Jim Weinberg, Henrik Haeckel, and Evan Reid of Hirschler Fleischer served as legal counsel to Brandito, and Mark Jones and Stephen Fishel of SIMA Financial Group provided accounting and tax advisory services to the Company in connection with the transaction.

About Monroe Street Partners:

Based in Chicago, IL, MSP is an operationally focused investment firm formed to build a concentrated portfolio of family and founder-run businesses across the Business Services and Industrial sectors. MSP is led by Managing Partners Alexander Foshager and Kenneth Mill who founded MSP in 2022 after serving in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division. MSP’s objective is to partner with experienced operators to acquire, grow, and improve businesses in the lower-middle market. The partnership with Brandito is MSP’s second platform investment.

About Dickinson Williams & Company:

Dickinson Williams & Company is an independent investment banking firm led by industry veterans with over 80 years of combined investment banking, financing, and operating experience. The firm provides objective, experience-based advisory services to lower middle market companies with enterprise values up to $150 million. The firm provides sell-side, buy-side, private placement, recapitalization, and strategic advisory services to family and closely held businesses, corporations, and private equity groups, and has a broad cross-section of transaction and industry experience in the industrials, business services, distribution, healthcare, and consumer sectors.

John C. Dickinson
Managing Director
jdickinson@dickinsonwilliams.com
804.588.3412

James A. Gilmore
Managing Director
jgilmore@dickinsonwilliams.com
804.588.3414

Harold J. Williams III
Managing Director
hwilliams@dickinsonwilliams.com
804.588.3413