M&A Deal Summary

Keystone Capital Acquires MERGE

On December 17, 2018, private equity firm Keystone Capital acquired marketing company MERGE from HY Connect

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Keystone Capital’s 1st transaction in the Marketing sector.
  • This is Keystone Capital’s 23rd transaction in the United States.
  • This is Keystone Capital’s 3rd transaction in Illinois.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2018-12-17
Target MERGE
Sector Marketing
Buyer(s) Keystone Capital
Sellers(s) HY Connect
Deal Type Divestiture
Advisor(s) The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) (Financial)

Target

MERGE

Chicago, Illinois, United States
MERGE is an integrated agency combining strategy, creativity, and technology to address clients’ business challenges and customer engagement needs. The Company’s capabilities include business & digital strategy, brand development, creative advertising, digital marketing execution, digital design & content creation, data analytics, custom technology development, and media services.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Keystone Capital

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1994
PE ASSETS 420M USD
Size Middle-Market
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Keystone Capital is a private equity firm focused on acquiring family businesses, corporate divestitures, industry consolidations, and special situations. Keystone prefers lower middle-market, US-based businesses with EBITDA of $3 to $15 million. Target sectors include specialty manufacturing, business services/outsourcing, food processing and ingredients, publishing, instrumentation, optical components, and healthcare products/services. Keystone will not invest in start-ups, turnarounds, commodities, defense/government contractors, retail stores, or restaurants. Keystone Capital was formed in 1994 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 23 of 35
Sector (Marketing) 1 of 1
Type (Divestiture) 6 of 6
State (Illinois) 3 of 6
Country (United States) 23 of 34
Year (2018) 2 of 2
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2018-01-09 Arbour Group

Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, United States

Arbour Group LLC is a provider of regulatory compliance services for the global life sciences industry. Arbour specializes in the areas of software validation, packaged compliance solutions, and software testing/auditing to ensure client compliance with applicable global regulatory bodies such as the U.S. FDA and the EU EMA (European Medicines Agency). Arbour partners with name-brand clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device fields both domestically and internationally.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2019-01-05 Target Engineering Group

Coral Gables, Florida, United States

Target Engineering Group, Inc. is a provider of construction management, professional engineering, and construction inspection services. Target Engineering Group, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Coral Gables, Florida.

Sell -

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

HY Connect

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Category Company
Founded 1933
Sector Marketing
DESCRIPTION

HY Connect, Inc. is an advertising agency.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 1 of 1
Sector (Marketing) 1 of 1
Type (Divestiture) 1 of 1
State (Illinois) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 1 of 1
Year (2018) 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2017-04-12 MERGE

Chicago, Illinois, United States

MERGE is an integrated agency combining strategy, creativity, and technology to address clients’ business challenges and customer engagement needs. The Company’s capabilities include business & digital strategy, brand development, creative advertising, digital marketing execution, digital design & content creation, data analytics, custom technology development, and media services.

Buy -
Mergr

Product

Company

Legal