With Old Debt Gone, A New Leader & Team Arrives
Gibson Brands is on the verge of emerging from bankruptcy a much healthier business in many respects – with less debt, more money in the bank, and a new leader to help the company shed its consumer electronics debacle and reconnect with the musical instrument market. The fifth time, it appears, was a charm as the court has approved the fifth revision of a company submitted turnaround plan that, cuts debt, jettisons former CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, and puts bondholders KKR in the driver’s seat.
Gary Wermuth, founder of WAVE Electronics in Houston, TX, spoke with Strata-gee about his company’s recent acquisition by Kingswood Capital, which also owns AVAD and plans to merge the two operations. The deal, announced last week and the cause of substantial buzz around the industry, has actually been in the works since April and he was clearly pleased to have the deal done and behind him.
As we reported last week, the world learned that the private equity group that owns AVAD has made another deal, acquiring Houston, TX-based WAVE Electronics, another major custom integration distribution company. After an initial ripple of excitement over the deal, most of us went back to our daily lives – looking at this deal as nothing more than just another private equity acquisition. But there may be more here than meets the eye…
