The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 15 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Stavros: C.H.I. Employee Ownership Paid $175K Average, Up to $1M
“So the end payouts ended up being 175,000 on average, and we had hourly workers and truck drivers make almost a million dollars.”
Stavros: Acquirers valuing employee culture will pay the winning price
“The people who value this culture are the ones who are going to pay the high price. So somebody who's maybe more of a slash and burn corporate buyer, I'm going to make this up. We didn't have one of those in the field, but they're not going to pay the winning …”
Stavros: KKR preempted C.H.I. auction by offering a 72-hour contract
“At first round bids, we had a final round type offer. Our price was certain. We submitted a term sheet on a contract and we said, we'll sign this in 72 hours.”
Stavros: C.H.I. EBITDA Grew Organically from $60M to $130M
“We went from 60 of EBITDA in 1516 was great, 17 was great, 18 was great, 19 was great. We were, I don't know, 130 of EBITDA from 60. All organic, no acquisitions.”
Stavros: 600 C.H.I. employees received a 3.5% option pool
“I think it was three and a half percent of the company in options. Of the 800 folks, maybe the top 200 got outright grants, made meaningful investments in the company, and were traditional management equity plan participants, as you would normally think of it.…”
Stavros: C.H.I. Grew Revenue 120% While Scrap Rose Only 7%
“Revenue was up a 120%. You took all this market share, lead time advantage versus the competition gapped out massively. Despite the 120% revenue growth, scrap only grew seven percent.”
Stavros: KKR raised preemptive C.H.I. bid four times to $680M
“So we bid six hundred and twenty-five million and said we could sign in 72 hours. And they said, that's great. Glad you love it. We're not in that big of a hurry. We suggest you keep playing out the process. Six 50. Six 70. Six 80. I remember I sent an email, …”
Stavros: Incumbents Couldn't Match C.H.I.'s Flexible Model Without Rebuilding Plants
“CHI was able to start its operating model from scratch, and they built a really flexible operating system where they could deliver on very short lead times, very high variety. It was just not possible for a competitor to adapt unless you were going to shut dow…”
Stavros: KKR Bought C.H.I. at 13x and Exited at 14x EBITDA
“I think we paid 13 times on entry and on exit 14 times or something. There was not a huge uplift in multiple.”
Stavros: C.H.I. had 21% EBITDA margins and mid-single-digit growth at acquisition
“The rough economics of CHI overhead doors when we bought it were 20% or so EBITDA margins. I think they were 21% gross margins in the low thirties, solid mid single digit growth. It had been a steady, slow market share gainer.”
Stavros: C.H.I.'s OSHA recordable incident rate was 14 per 100 workers
“The injury recordable incident rate, which is OSHA's key metric of safety, was 14 at the time, so what that means is for every hundred people in the plant, how many people per year were getting hurt? It was 14 out of a hundred per year.”
Stavros: KKR wrote a $250M equity check for C.H.I. Overhead Doors
“Even when we bought this was really a mid-cap deal for us, and we had always had a thought we would start a mid-cap strategy, so we were happy to do it, but this was a two hundred and fifty million dollar equity check, and our fund sizes are many, many billion…”
KKR Prepaid for Goldman Sachs Financial Coaching for C.H.I. Workers
“I think we've gotten it right on the back end in terms of when we sold the business, prepaying for financial coaching with Goldman Sachs, prepaying for tax help to make sure people appropriately and timely file their taxes.”