Case Study · Buy-Side
Party Rental Acquisition: A First-Time Buyer Closes Two Deals Back to Back
A first-time buyer from corporate engineering bought a 20-year-old party rental business in Western Massachusetts, including the building it runs from, for about $2.5 million. Right after closing, the seller brought her his largest local competitor. With her Small Business Administration loan, the government-backed loan most buyers use, already committed to the first deal, we structured the second one with 100 percent seller financing. She now controls the full local market.
The Buyer
From Corporate Engineering to Business Owner
Charlotte spent her career in corporate engineering and wanted more control over her time. She was looking for a business that already ran without its owner and made enough to justify the leap. She didn't want a side hustle. She found Lighthouse through our partner Ben Kelly.
Every business we showed her had already been through our first round of vetting. The one she bought was only the second she looked at seriously, and the first where she signed a letter of intent.
The First Deal
A Clean Exit That Wasn't Simple
The business rents water slides, bounce houses, tents, tables and chairs. It runs March through November with a management team that stayed on after the sale. The seller had run it for 20 years, it had never been sold before, and he wanted a clean break, so the building came with it. That pushed the deal to about $2.5 million, with a seller note for about 15 percent of the business price.
A business that has never been sold has never been cleaned up for a sale. Three things nearly stopped this one.
The bank. It took from a first meeting on December 1 to a term sheet in March. When the first lender stalled a second time, our deal lead moved the file to another lender, and that lender delivered.
A license. The deal was structured as a purchase of the company rather than its assets, so the licenses would transfer. The SBA still required the new owner to hold one of the trade licenses the seller held, and that takes years to earn. We solved it by selling a small stake to one of the managers, who could hold the license.
The appraisal. SBA appraisals don't count some types of floor space, so the building came in well below what the seller expected, late in the process. Charlotte negotiated the gap directly with the seller. The relationship they had built by then is what kept the deal together.
The Second Deal
100 Percent Seller Financed, No Bank
The seller trusted Charlotte with the business he had built. So when his largest local competitor wanted to sell to someone who would look after the business, he brought the opportunity to her.
Her SBA loan was already committed to the first deal, and she didn't want to touch it. So we set up a structure with no bank at all. The competitor's owner financed the full purchase price, and on top of that he earns an earnout and a commission, so he gets paid more if the business keeps performing.
A smaller business with no lender in the middle closed much faster. Charlotte now runs both brands in the same market, and her focus for the next year is bringing them together.
The broader point: the first deal decided whether the second one was possible. Her relationship with her seller saved the first deal more than once, and that same trust brought her the second. A structure that doesn't depend on the SBA let her say yes to it.
I don't think that I would have been able to get it done without you guys.CharlotteFirst-Time Owner · Party Rentals · Massachusetts
By the Numbers
Deal outcomes that speak for themselves.
From a stalled search to a closed deal and a growing business — in less time than most searchers spend reviewing CIMs.
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