Brand Advantage Group by Safeguard Up for M&A Deal of the Year Award

Over the last nine years, Safeguard has engineered more than 150 transactions through its Business Acquisitions & Mergers (BAM) strategy, approaching each as a meaningful and impactful means to strengthen likewise innovative industry presences. Always eager to further its reach and deliver unmatched goods and services to its customer base, the Dallas-situated entity used most of the spring to complete the divestiture of its Brand Advantage Group, placing it in the very capable hands of long-time employees Dave Daoust and Tom Lyngdal, who oversee the year-old initiative as an independently operated distributorship within the Safeguard network. Thanks to the duo’s expertise and the move marking yet another success for Safeguard, the transaction finds itself among the top 10 finalists for the M&A Advisor Awards Deal of the Year honor.

The Brand Advantage Group by Safeguard originated in August 2016, with the Texas company merging the Minnesota-based distributors QBF – Solutions Beyond Print and Team MHC. Having been QBF executives, Daoust and Lyngdal had long dreamt of owning their own business, according to R. Scott Sutton, vice president of Safeguard Acquisitions Inc. and of Franchise Development, so Safeguard fully invested in their talent in orchestrating the spring divestiture.

“If you look across the deal universe, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more innovative deal structure that helped the MHC and QBF sellers achieve their goal of business divestiture, Tom and Dave achieve their dream of business ownership, provide growth for the Safeguard brand and [lead to] more relevant and meaningful products and services for the customers we serve,” Sutton said.

The high-ranking employee noted that the transaction, which Print+Promo covered in June, helps the Brand Advantage business become Safeguard’s largest distributor enterprise with respect to sales volume, a point of pride that the finalists will surely have on their minds come the Nov. 13 ceremony in New York City. The gathering will serve as the chief element of the 2017 M&A Advisor Summit and will commend the leading M&A transactions and deal financings closed, and restructurings completed, from Aug. 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017. In the months since the divestiture’s completion, Sutton noted Safeguard has greatly benefited from the new entrepreneurs’ know-how, “imprinting onto the culture of the business their own strategies and focus areas.”

“For us, it comes down to creativity, innovation and commitment,” he said of what helped Safeguard to emerge as an awards contender. “… This transaction, in particular, embodies all three elements: our creativity and innovation led to the successful acquisition of MHC and QBF, followed by the successful rebranding and market positioning of the new, combined brand known as Brand Advantage Group. Finally, our commitment to our business, our customers and our franchisees was achieved through the divestiture of this business to passionate, dedicated business owners who have now achieved their dreams of business ownership and continue to go to market with the strength of the Safeguard brand and our world-class operational, marketing and product-innovation support. We believe this unique transaction and the value it creates is in a category of its own. We’re extremely humbled and excited to be nominated for this prestigious award.”