Business Description

Optimum Building Systems (“Optimum, or the “Company”), founded by brothers Rene and Sylvain Theroux, is a market leading specialty construction subcontractor providing drywall, acoustical ceiling tile (“ACT”), waterproofing, exterior cladding services, and other specialty construction services across northern New England and New York. The Company is the preferred partner to both national and regional general contractors that service the education, healthcare, multi-family, government and other commercial end markets.

Background

Rene and Sylvain Theroux founded the Company in 1990, quickly scaling the business to become a leading drywall contractor in northern New England. With a number of key additions to the management team in the early 2010s, the Company expanded its service lines to include exterior and ACT services, driving growth and establishing itself as the go-to subcontractor for multi-scope specialty construction services within its region. By 2023, Rene and Sylvain had reached an inflection point both personally and professionally. Having run the business for more than three decades, they wanted to chart a path to reducing their day-to-day workload and secure their families’ future through a liquidity event. At the same time, Optimum’s future had never been brighter. The Company was in the midst of its second consecutive record sales year while inbound demand for new projects continued to increase.  Rene and Sylvain realized that they needed an experienced partner to help them prioritize and invest in the abundant growth opportunities in front of them while building out the systems and infrastructure required to help Optimum scale to its full potential.

Solution

CMG was engaged to conduct a targeted sale process. As the Company prepared to go to market, Optimum was presented with an opportunity to acquire Landry & Sons Acoustics (“Landry”). Headquartered in Maine, Landry was a provider of ACT installation services. Optimum and CMG decided to delay the sale process to pursue the acquisition of Landry, which doubled the size of Optimum’s ACT division and established new general contractor relationships across the state of Maine. CMG advised Optimum on the acquisition and, once it was completed, brought the Company to market in mid-2024.  The process yielded offers from several prospective partners. Ultimately, Rene and Sylvain selected Wall Works Holdings (“WWH”), a portfolio company of AVALT, a Boston-based private equity firm, and VantEdge, a Kansas City based family office, as the best partner for the Company. WWH’s strategy, established following AVALT and VantEdge’s investment in Suburban Drywall in July 2024, is to build a platform of leading specialty contractors in the finishing trades while providing strategic and operational support to help accelerate both organic and inorganic growth at its partner companies. Rene Theroux commented “With the support of AVALT and VantEdge, and the combined resources of current and future Wall Works contractors, there are no limits to what we can achieve together. The entire Optimum team is excited to see what this next chapter holds.” Ramsey Goodrich, CMG Managing Partner, added “CMG is thrilled to have advised Optimum and the Theroux brothers on this exciting transaction. We are confident that our approach not only maximized value for Optimum, but also found partners that respect the foundation upon which the Company was built and will be great stewards of the business going forward. This transaction is the direct result of the hard work and dedication of Rene, Sylvain and the entire Optimum organization, and we could not be more pleased with the outcome.”