OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL – October 18, 2018 – Prairie Capital Advisors, Inc. (“Prairie”), a leading middle-market investment bank, is pleased to announce that is has represented Sternberg Lighting (“Sternberg” or the “Company”), and its shareholders in the sale of the Company to Lumenpulse Group (“Lumenpulse”). The Company’s existing ESOP will retain a meaningful minority ownership stake. The transaction was announced on October 16, 2018. The transaction was led by Tim Witt and Anthony Dolan of Prairie. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Roselle, Illinois and founded in 1923, Sternberg Lighting has maintained its position as a leader in the architectural and decorative street lighting industry. With its unique combination of technological innovation and design, the Company serves diverse end-markets including municipal, education and commercial customers. “Sternberg was built on a foundation of great employee-owners providing high-quality lighting products and excellent customer service for the architectural lighting community,” said Joe Waldau, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
“Sternberg is one of the most recognizable specified outdoor lighting brands in North America. With a 95-year history, we believe that the Sternberg-Lumenpulse partnership positions the Company well for accelerated future growth while continuing to innovate and bring differentiated products to the North American market,” said Anthony Dolan, a director at Prairie.
“The Company’s ESOP will continue to own 20% of the equity in order to maintain the unique entrepreneurial and ownership culture at Sternberg. We continue to see strong interest from the buyer community to acquire or invest in market leading companies in the lighting industry,” said Tim Witt, a managing director at Prairie.
“The Prairie team provided excellent guidance in what was a challenging and complex transaction,” commented Mr. Waldau. “Prairie has a unique blend of M&A, ESOP and capital markets capabilities and I can recount numerous examples where Prairie stepped forward to the challenges of the deal while demonstrating the utmost professionalism.”
Prairie Capital Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Sternberg, working closely with its shareholders and management team throughout the sale process. Prairie’s deal team was integrally involved in each step of the process and guided the Company and the management team to a successful transaction outcome.
About Prairie Capital Advisors
Prairie provides investment banking, ESOP advisory, and valuation advisory services to support the growth and ownership transition strategies of middle-market companies. Headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, Prairie specializes in merger and acquisition advisory services and is a nationally recognized advisor for ESOP transaction strategies. Prairie has been recognized as a 2018 Finalist for The M&A Advisor’s Boutique Investment Banking Firm of the Year Award and was also ranked the #1 U.S.A. Fairness Opinion Advisor of the Year by M&A Atlas. For more information visit www.prairiecap.com.
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Media Contact
Wendy Gugora, Director of Marketing
Prairie Capital Advisors, Inc.
630.413.5574
wgugora@prairiecap.com
