A Brief Overview

De NES Partners, LLC was founded in 2013 by two senior professionals with over a combined 40 years of mergers & acquisitions advisory experience who were responsible for running the investment banking practice for CBIZ, Inc., a $900 million professional services firm traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CBZ).

De NES Partners focuses on representing single and multi-generational family and other privately-held businesses across the United States with revenue between $15-250 million, and works across the full spectrum of manufacturing, distribution, and company-to-company business services.

Our business owner clients consider transactions typically following a formal estate or succession planning process, the receipt of an unsolicited offer from a strategic or financial buyer, or the need to buy out a partner or family member.

Transactions can take the form of either an outright 100% sale where clients are ready to step away from the business and enjoy the financial rewards of their success, or a partial sale (recapitalization), where clients take money off the table, usually for estate planning purposes, while partnering with sophisticated investors, usually private equity firms, which can help clients more aggressively expand the business. For example, private equity firms can provide additional capital and expertise for new product line introductions or extensions, facility expansions, minority partner buyouts, and/or acquisition purposes, as well as other strategic assistance while allowing the business owners to reduce their personal and financial risk.

De NES’ Managing Partners have sold clients to some of the most sophisticated buyers in the world, including companies listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ, Toronto, Irish and London Stock Exchanges, as well as numerous private equity firms.

Our Process & How We Add Value

Pre-Engagement

BEFORE being engaged, De NES Partners will work with business owners to carefully understand their objectives and evaluate the feasibility of a transaction. As part of this work, we will provide (at no-cost):

• (i) specific guidance regarding valuation;
• (ii) a list of prospective acquirers/partners (including public and private, strategic and financial, domestic and foreign targets);
• (iii) a recommendation regarding marketing approaches (one buyer vs. limited auction vs. broad auction);
• (iv) an outline of our confidentiality procedures; and
• (v) an overview of our fees.

If we jointly determine that it makes sense to delay a transaction to allow the business to capture some incremental revenue and profit growth that will help drive value, De NES Partners will offer operational and financial guidance to help ownership implement certain changes to help position the company to capture additional value with an eye towards a future transaction.

Engagement

Once engaged, De NES Partners creates value for its clients through the following activities:

• Completing a thorough business review to identify operational and financial strengths
• Authoring carefully-crafted seller documents articulating the value proposition of our client
• Utilizing our extensive domestic and international buyer contacts to generate buyer competition through a tightly-managed, confidential auction process
• Structuring the sale to ensure favorable tax treatment
• Managing the due diligence effort to ensure a timely and successful closing

Summary of Transaction Process (Full Sale)