Today we’d like to introduce you to Brent Earles and Fred McCallister.
Brent & Fred have known each other for 25 years, and have been business partners for the last 10 years. In their own careers, they have been entrepreneurs, founders and shareholders. Their firm, Caddo Lake Capital, is the 4th company they have worked at together. As they progressed in their careers, they realized the compatible skills they had & decided to team up. They represent middle market companies by working the buy and sell sides of M&A transactions. Together, they have had success with numerous transactions & have received numerous awards including the “M&A Deal of the Year”.
They reached a point in their careers where it made sense to start their own company, so they did so by founding Caddo Lake Capital. Fred has worked as an attorney, general counselor, and entrepreneur. Since working in M&A he has completed over 70 successful transactions. Brent worked as a marketing executive focused on business strategy and frequently made recommendations on acquisitions. So, it was a natural path for them to use their legal, strategic, and marketing expertise to become intermediaries in M&A.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, their path has been a smooth one, because M&A is a business they know well. The biggest hurdle they have faced so far was starting out the year of 2017 with no clients. This came after a long stream of successes and numerous clients, but, was a natural hurdle when they took the leap to start their own firm, Caddo Lake Capital. Now, they have multiple clients as a result of their efforts.
In general, there is always the pressure of getting new clients and the long sale cycles means it takes months for a single M&A transaction to complete. However, the M&A market is favorable and the DFW area is underserved by M&A intermediaries, so they made a great decision in starting their own firm when they did.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Caddo Lake Capital – what should we know?
Caddo Lake Capital is a team of Mergers & Acquisition advisors. They serve as intermediaries between enterprise & capital markets, completing controlled transactions, minority transactions, recapitalizations, management buyouts, leverage buyouts and 100% exits. They focus on private, middle market companies with revenue between $5-$300 million, or a net profit of $1-$50 million. Half of the work they do is on the sell side with business owners, family businesses, and privately held companies. The other half is on the buy side with private equity firms, family offices and corporations.
Their firm, Caddo Lake Capital, specializes in the industries of healthcare, telecom, technology, media, manufacturing, education, consumer products, industrials, chemicals, business services, and some aspects of oil & gas. They work with healthy companies that have good management teams and are at an inflection point in their growth, because they want to be confident the companies they work with will be paid fair evaluations. They do not work with special, distress or bankruptcy situations & do not work with the industries of mining, minerals or general agriculture.
They are most proud of the quality service they provide to their clients. Whether they are representing a buyer or seller, it is always white glove service throughout the entire process. Almost no one in the industry works at the level of quality they do. Neither of them are formally trained as investment bankers, so they see the world the same way entrepreneurs do. They are empathetic with the seller’s point of view & sensitive to the emotional aspects of M&A transactions. Their backgrounds of running their own companies, divisions, P&L’s, and balance sheets allows them to relate to the business owners and view the deal in a way no other investment bankers can. They are able to relate to the business owners first hand, and this allows them to know what the proper value of a company really is. They think of each transaction as monetizing someone else’s life work and therefore treat it with the gravity it deserves.
Many investment bankers feel a deal is done when the Letter of Intent is signed, but Brent & Fred know the work has just begun. They stay focused from start to close to get the transaction done successfully. Their level of detail & white glove service, sets them apart from the rest.
Although Brent & Fred have received multiple awards, their proudest moments are when they close transactions for business owners. Every transaction they close is life changing for the people involved. It creates generational wealth & positive lifestyle changes for the business owners and their families.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://caddolakecapital.com/
- Phone: 972.591.7775
- Email: info@caddolakecapital.com
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