Easy Way Leisure Corporation Has Completed a Majority Recap with Insight Equity
HOUSTON, January 26, 2021 – GulfStar Group is pleased to announce the majority recapitalization of Easy Way Leisure Corporation (“Easy Way”) by Insight Equity Holdings LLC (“Insight Equity”). GulfStar served as the exclusive financial advisor to Easy Way throughout the transaction, which closed on January 15, 2021.
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Easy Way is a specialized manufacturer of premium outdoor furniture products, providing full-service design and production services to luxury Home Décor retailers across North America. Easy Way’s unique operational configuration enables its retail partners to offer mass customization of fabric choices and rapid fulfillment to the end consumer, while benefitting from extremely short lead-times and significant improvements in inventory efficiency.
"In every imaginable sense of the word, 2020 was truly a remarkable year for our Company,” said Jon Randman, President of Easy Way. I am immensely proud of our team for executing and delivering a record year while simultaneously managing the enormous challenges posed by the pandemic and the intensity of a transaction process. I think these accomplishments speak to the skill and quality of every one of our team members, and the passion that underscores a unique culture of recognition, performance and care for our customers. We are thrilled to partner with the team at Insight Equity in pursuit of a visible growth strategy that will leverage the effort and forethought embedded in the business, with creative and sophisticated processes and know-how brought to bear by our new partners. On behalf of the Easy Way family, I would like to sincerely thank the GulfStar team for the tireless effort they put in to ensure a highly successful outcome, and to ensure that our very best interests were always out in front. It is beyond evident that they approached our transaction as a personal matter, and there is no doubt that GulfStar’s care, dedication and experience resulted in an extraordinary conclusion for Easy Way."
Insight Equity is a leading middle-market private equity firm that makes control investments in high value-add, manufacturing and distribution businesses across a wide range of industries. Leveraging a proven, collaborative value creation model, Insight Equity facilitates operating enhancements and accelerated growth. The firm specializes in partnering with companies in complex situations, including corporate divestitures, management buyouts, aggressive growth opportunities, going-private transactions, restructurings, and transitions from family ownership. Insight Equity is headquartered in Southlake, Texas with additional offices in New York City.
"It’s been a distinct privilege to work with Jon Randman and his exceptional team over the past year, particularly in light of their incredible execution in the most complex and trying operating environment that most have seen in our careers," said Scott Winship, managing director at GulfStar. "A thoughtful evolution of Easy Way’s operational and market strategies over the past three decades has rendered a contemporary enterprise that is legitimately unique in its segment. Leveraging its terrific infrastructure and intimate customer relationships, it will be very exciting to observe Easy Way’s realization of full potential in partnership with Insight Equity, and the rapid manifestation of new product capabilities that will drive entry into large and attractive category adjacencies. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Jon and the Easy Way team for placing their trust in GulfStar and for being true partners with us through the rigors of the transaction process.”
The GulfStar team was led by Managing Director Scott Winship and Senior Vice President Ben Stanton along with Associate Jon Sanfelippo and Analyst Brodie Sherman. Matthew Miller and Tedd Friedman of Katz Teller served as legal counsel to Easy Way. Richard Warren and Megan Kaufman of Hunton Andrews Kurth served as legal counsel to Insight Equity.
For more information, please email swinship@gulfstargroup.com or call 713-300-2011.
About GulfStar Group
GulfStar is a leading middle market investment bank headquartered in Houston. GulfStar specializes in providing merger and acquisition advisory services, institutional private placements of equity and debt, and general corporate finance advisory services to companies with revenues or enterprise values generally ranging from $25 million to $350 million. Since its formation in 1990, GulfStar has completed more than 700 transactions in 35 states and 16 foreign countries across a variety of industries.
