Evergreen Advisors Capital, a middle-market investment bank, announced today that it advised G2SF, Inc. (“G2SF”) on its sale to Gunnison Consulting Group, Inc. (“Gunnison”).

Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, G2SF INC. is a Government focused IT consultancy and enterprise solution provider with core competencies in IT Service Management (ITSM), Mobility Engineering and Management, Security Engineering and Management, and IT Engineering & Integration. Their clients are responsible for the largest IT organizations in the world, including the Defense, Intelligence, and Civilian Agencies within the U.S. Government. As a result of G2SF’s involvement, their clients have realized measurable improvements in operational efficiencies, a reduction in sustainment costs, and an improvement in services.

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Evergreen Advisors, a middle market Investment Bank and Corporate Advisory Firm, with offices in both Columbia, MD and McLean, VA, is pleased to announce the addition of John Ellis into Evergreen’s CFO Advisory Practice.

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In this Entrepreneur Spotlight, we highlight KaloCyte, a company transplanted from St. Louis, Missouri now located in Baltimore at the University of Maryland BioPark. 

KaloCyte is developing a solution for when blood is not available. They have demonstrated proof of concept for ErythroMer™, a dried, bio-inspired artificial red blood cell substitute envisioned for use as an oxygen carrier when stored red blood cells are unavailable, undesirable, or in short supply. 

For this feature, we interviewed Elaine Haynes, President and CEO, who has 30 years of healthcare leadership expertise and extensive experience with the commercial development of complex pharmaceuticals on the vision she sees for KaloCyte.

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As business valuation professionals, we are often tasked with determining the value of a block of stock in a company, typically a partial interest, for purposes of gift or estate tax planning, stock option issuance, ESOP compliance, or marital disputes. The appropriate standard of value for such assignments is “Fair Market Value.”

Fair Market Value is defined as the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller when the former is not under any compulsion to buy, and the latter is not under any compulsion to sell, both parties having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts.

Fair market value does not consider the synergies of a specific buyer. Instead, it contemplates an unrelated, third-party buyer and assumes the company continues to operate as a stand-alone business. Valuation professionals must also consider the rights and restrictions specific to the block of shares (or partial interest) that are being valued.

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Evergreen Advisors Capital, a middle-market investment bank, is pleased to announce that PathSensors, Inc. (“PathSensors” or the “Company”) has been acquired by Smiths Detection (“Smiths”).  Evergreen Advisors Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to PathSensors with legal advice provided by Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLP.

PathSensors is a leading biotechnology solutions and environmental testing company based in Baltimore, MD that provides high-speed, high-sensitivity pathogen detection and threat prevention solutions. PathSensors’ solutions can detect a wide range of threats, including anthrax, ricin, Ebola, salmonella, Phytophthora, Ralstonia, and many more. The Company’s technology supports a growing library of threat detection capabilities and can be expanded to meet emerging and specific threat detection requirements. PathSensors shares a similar customer base to that which Smiths Detection serves for chemical-threat detection, while also offering an expanded end-use market into adjacent security markets such as food and agricultural safety.

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Evergreen Advisors, a middle market Investment Bank and Corporate Advisory Firm, with offices in both Columbia, MD and McLean, VA, is pleased to announce the addition of John Reichlin to the Evergreen Advisors Corporate Advisory Practice. John specializes in business turnarounds and financial restructurings. He also works closely with owners of middle market companies as a strategic advisor to help them drive growth and to improve profitability.

We are thrilled to be welcoming John to our team as we strengthen our capabilities,” said Rick Kohr, CEO of Evergreen Advisors. “Focused on developing the efforts of our turnaround and restructuring team, John’s experience further complements our capabilities and will help us better serve companies with their corporate finance needs.”

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On March 18, 2020, YUM! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), a worldwide owner and operator of restaurant brands, acquired The Habit Restaurants, Inc. (NasdaqGM: HABT or “Habit”) for approximately $408 million in cash.  At the time, Habit operated 245 company-owned and 31 franchised Habit Burger Gill restaurants in the U.S. and in China.  According to YUM’s 10Q filing, Habit expected to benefit from the global scale and resources of YUM.  As a result of the transaction, YUM recorded $219 million of goodwill and $98 million in brand/trademark value based on the analysis of a third-party valuation firm. [Read more…]

We are in uncharted territories given the impact of the Pandemic at many levels ranging from our physical health to the mental challenges brought to bear on each of us to the significant impact on our economy.

Venture Funding  

In the first quarter of 2020, companies in the region raised 227 million in venture capital, according to the  PwC/CB Insights MoneyTree Report.  This funding went to 21 companies over this period and over $50 million higher than the quarterly average from 2019.   Zerofox raised $74 million, which was the third-largest round secured by a cyber company in this country.

There was over $121 billion in dry powder amongst the Venture Funds in 2019, and they continue to fund, but many are being more conservative in their approach.  I spoke to Chuck Cullen at Grotech Ventures about their philosophy last week – they have two investments they were focused on.  One was just funded the other was put on hold in the near term.  Speaking with numerous funds, their focus has primarily turned to their existing portfolio companies, ensuring companies have enough cash runway and stressing efficiency. New deals are still happening, but most of these had already been in the pipeline prior to the onset of the Pandemic. The investment pace will surely slowdown in the near term.  One Venture Fund I spoke to was working through new deal screening protocols.  How do you connect with the founding teams before making an investment?   The old axiom is that you invest in an “A” management team is still quite true.  They were trying to derive a technology solution to measure management teams while travel has all but ceased.

Valuations may not have retreated much yet, but indications from Venture community and startups alike suggest that valuations are likely to be challenged in the coming quarters.  Late-stage valuations may see valuations impacted more so after reaching record highs in 2019.  Historically, investor early-stage deal values tend to be more range-bound and may be affected less.

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The Coronavirus Recession is forcing even the most well-capitalized companies to deliver cost savings across their supply chains. To weather the crisis, companies must reassess opportunities to source products and services domestically, reduce exposure to regional labor market disruptions, navigate ongoing rent, utilities, debt service obligations, and redeploy their workforces across their physical and digital facilities. The importance of a sound corporate location strategy has never been more apparent, and the need for collaboration with the public sector never more pressing.

The crisis at hand presents unique challenges to company supply chains and economic development organizations, challenges that affect the fiscal positions of both companies and local authorities in then incentive negotiation process. Just as companies must manage risks across their supply chains, cities and states facing shortfalls in sales and income tax collections are reassessing their approaches to the incentive negotiation, with a new need to realize savings as well as to identify opportunities for growth.

Successful location and supply chain analysts in the time of the Coronavirus Recession will be the ones that can leverage creative funding opportunities to realize cost savings for both the public and private sectors.
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