INDUSTRY
Established in the 1950s, Barron Smith was an interdisciplinary design-oriented architecture practice. The company had an excellent track record for delivering education projects, and also had a growing reputation in the housing, care and commercial sectors.
Having led Barron Smith to great success, the firm’s managing partner was looking to exit the business and contacted Avondale to facilitate the business sale. The project was complicated by a challenging sales environment, due to there being minimal interest in acquiring architectural practices at the time.
Despite these challenges, Avondale was able to generate significant interest in Barron and Smith, drawing on intensive research to highlight the synergistic acquisition benefits of the business to prospective buyers. As such, the team was able to solicit firm offers from five potential buyers, leading to final-stage negotiations with one firm.
As a provision of the sale, the acquirer requested that the managing partner remained with the practice on a partial earn-out basis for three years after the sale. The owner was more than willing to help ensure a smooth handover, and a deal was promptly agreed between the two parties.
