Scott Waxler, LockeBridge Managing Partner, Won the “Deal Maker of the Year” at The Investment Banking Industry’s 5th Annual M&A Advisor Awards

Honoring the Best of the Best in the Investment Banking Industry, the Fifth Annual M&A Advisor Awards Dinner was held Monday night at the New York Athletic Club in Midtown Manhattan. The dinner was sold out as more than 350 middle-market mergers and acquisitions and corporate financing professionals gathered at the New York Athletic Club to toast the top deals and dealmakers of the past year. The gala, black-tie dinner was hosted by The M&A Advisor and Becky Quick, co-anchor of CNBC’s morning “Squawk Box” business news show.

LockeBridge Investment Banking was also nominated as a finalists by a prestigious panel of judges in two additional t categories.

Judging criteria for The Deal Maker of the Year focuses on:

1. Importance and contribution of the individual to the transaction and the industry.
2. Excellence in structuring, financing and negotiations
3. Creativity and perseverance in overcoming difficulties and/or extraordinary circumstances

Mr. Waxler comments, “I attribute our success to the unique Lockebridge model of offering extremely high level of representation to a client base that would not generally have access to such seasoned advisory services. Additionally LockeBridge will assume the financial risk of bringing the Client to market through our no engagement fee or retainer policy. It’s a business model that is difficult to execute but has proven to be quite successful for us. In fact, I don’t know of any other firm in the country that can offer top tier advisory services while not charging any engagement fees.”

In an email to Mr. Waxler, Mr. Barry Kaplan, Managing Editor and Chair of the Awards Nominations Committee commented, “We want you to know that the competition is intense, and so is the job of selecting finalists and winners. It is heartening and an inspiration to the entire middle market mergers and acquisitions community to see the astonishing variety of creative deal-making, persistence, and professionalism demonstrated by all of the nominations that were submitted. Your dedication and hard work are admired and applauded by your peers – and, most importantly, your clients – and we appreciate the opportunity you’ve given us to share them and shine a well-deserved spotlight on you and your firm.”

Both LockeBridge, LLC and Scott Waxler, Managing Partner of LockeBridge, were nominated as finalists by a prestigious panel of judges. LockeBridge was nominated for executing the Deal of the Year in the health care sector and Mr. Waxler was nominated for Professional of the Year in the M&A Industry.

May 10, 2006— The M&A Advisor, one of the Merger & Acquisition (M&A) industry’s leading publications has named the finalists, representing the industry’s top advisors and transactions, in preparation for its tribute to the outstanding achievements in the middle market M&A industry. The winners will be announced at a black tie awards dinner at the close of The M&A Advisor’s Conference on Tuesday, June 20 2006 at The Drake Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

“We have been truly amazed at the volume of nominations for these awards and the obvious enthusiasm behind them. The response demonstrates the importance of the middle market industry to the overall health of the economy,” says Roger Aguinaldo, Publisher and CEO of The M&A Advisor.” The event is recognized as the Academy Awards of the M&A industry attracting the industry’s most prestigious advisors. A panel of acclaimed judges will review the entries and select the winners. As with the Academy Awards, the winners will be revealed only that evening.

The M&A Advisor is a newsletter, website, and conference publisher delivering services that provide executives, M&A professionals, and others about the intricate world of buying and selling middle market companies. For more information on the M&A Advisor go to: www.maadvisor.com.

For Immediate Release
May 10, 2006

Cross Border Role-Up of Three Medical Device Companies
RF Medical Devices, Mercury Medical Products (d/b/a Precision Medical Engineering), both U.S. based companies,  and Neurotherm, LTD, a UK based company. The three companies sell medical devices and consumables primarily utilized in radiofrequency ablation of spinal nerves that are the cause of back pain.

Both LockeBridge, LLC and Scott Waxler, Managing Partner of LockeBridge, were recognized  for executing the M&A industry’s  HealthCare Transaction of the Year.  Each year, the M&A Advisor, one of the Merger & Acquisition (M&A) industry’s leading publications, recognizes the  top advisors and transactions in the middle market M&A industry. The event is recognized as the Academy Awards of the M&A industry attracting the industry’s most prestigious advisors.

Roger Aguinaldo, Publisher and CEO of The M&A Advisor comments, “We have been truly amazed at the volume of nominations for these awards and the obvious enthusiasm behind them. The response demonstrates the importance of the middle market industry to the overall health of the economy.”

The M&A Advisor is a newsletter, website, and conference publisher delivering services that provide executives, M&A professionals, and others information about the intricate world of buying and selling middle market companies. For more information on the M&A Advisor go to: www.maadvisor.com.

Wallboard Building Supply Company announced the acquisition of their companies by two private equity firms located in Boston and New York. The Company is a distributor of building materials to the New England market.

Mr. John Filion, President of Wallboard Supply Company comments, “Within 6 months after engaging with our M&A Advisor they brought us 7 offers from both strategic corporations and private equity groups. We were amazed to see offers coming from some of the largest global players in the industry. Our $35 million dollar company had an offer from a two billion division of a much larger company!”

According to Mr. Filion, “We ended up getting an offer that was about 50% over the offer what we were entertaining before our M&A partner got involved. The offer accommodated the individual needs of the four owners while funding the company’s substantial growth requirements. I don’ think that we could have found a better buyer. My advice to any business owner thinking about selling is ‘Don’t go it alone’. Selling a business is a tough process that requires some serious expertise. There is no doubt in our minds that the expertise we received from Mr. Waxler and team was top notch.”

The deal, funded by New York and Boston based private equity groups, “received numerous offers from both large multi-national strategic buyers as well as mid-size investment groups ”, according to Mr. Scott Waxler, Managing Partner of Lockebridge, LLC, a Boston based Mergers and Acquisitions advisory firm. “It was a difficult deal due to a few factors:

1. The Company has multiple locations in three different states each with different ownerships with each of the 4 owners having different objectives.
2. One of the locations was only a year old and had substantial start up costs that needed to be normalized.
3. The Company was operating on two different information systems which made data collection and verification quite challenging. The operations have since been consolidated to one system.

The transaction took one and half years to close from the beginning to end but in the end there was no doubt that all four of the Owners met each of their individual objectives.

Wallboard Supply Company is a distributor of building materials specializing in drywall, metal framing and finishing products as well as insulation, lumber, doors and hardware. This family-owned company was founded in 1970, and operates a fleet of over 20 delivery vehicles including boom, crane and spider truck service. Wallboard supplies all of the New England area from three convenient locations—Londonderry, New Hampshire, Westbrook, Maine, and Williston, Vermont.

Northern Graphics, Inc announced the acquisition of their company by a New York based strategic purchaser. The transaction was funded by Anvil Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in New York. The purchase of Northern Graphics by Shipmates/Printmates, the largest on-demand printer in New York’s Capital Region, was closely aligned to the strict acquisition criteria of the buyer, which was seeking to expand its geographic presence.

Anvil Capital is a New York based private equity investment group that invests in privately held business with revenues of $5 million to $50 million.

Headquartered in upstate New York, Shipmates/Printmates is the largest on-demand printer in New York’s Capital Region. Main areas of focus are printing, promotional items, fulfillment and multimedia.

LockeBridge,LLC, was engaged as the exclusive advisor to Alliance Marketing Group, an $85 million leading, value-added distributor of computer components and peripherals to the rapidly expanding industrial and consumer sectors of the emerging markets of Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. The company successfully executed a recapitalization in 2006.

LockeBridge, LLC advised Y&B Corporation, an operator of fitness centers, on the sale of their Gold’s Gym holding in Salem MA. LockeBridge was hired by Sunbelt Business Advisors, one of the largest small business advisors in the country, to execute the transaction. The sale was executed in approximately four months from the date of engagement. According to Mr. Glenn Anthony, Y&B CEO, “The price was about 15% higher then we had tried to get on our own and had much better payment terms.”

LockeBridge,LLC, was engaged to advise Burnett & Moynihan, Inc. on the sale to management. The Company is a supplier of building products in the Metro Boston area.