Business Description

Founded in 1967 by Leo and Claire Tremblay and headquartered in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Tremblay’s Bus Company, LLC (“TBC”) is a second-generation, family-owned provider of student transportation services throughout southeastern Massachusetts. Serving both special and general education students, TBC operates from terminals in New Bedford and Fall River and partners with 15 school districts. With a fleet of more than 350 vehicles, TBC safely transports over 5,000 students each day across more than 400 routes. Over nearly six decades, the Company has grown from a single station wagon transporting local factory workers into one of the region’s largest and most respected student transportation providers, distinguished by its specialized service capabilities, experienced workforce and commitment to safety.

Background

With a long-tenured management team rapidly approaching retirement and no defined family succession plan in place, the family began considering the Company’s long-term future and recognized that TBC’s employees, customers and communities would be best served by transitioning the business to an established industry partner with the scale and resources to support its continued growth. An earlier sale process guided by another investment bank had failed to produce a suitable outcome, leaving the family cautious about returning to market and convinced that any second attempt would depend on selecting an advisor who could properly articulate TBC’s strategic value and execute a thoughtful process.

When the family’s Trustees determined the time was right to revisit a transaction, they conducted a thorough advisor selection process and selected Carter Morse & Goodrich (“CMG”), drawn to the firm’s deep focus on family-owned businesses and the dynamics that shape them, the sector expertise of its Specialized Services team and its prior experience guiding owners through generational transitions. CMG was engaged to develop a more effective transaction strategy that would restore the family’s confidence in an M&A process and achieve their objectives.

Solution

CMG developed and executed a disciplined, targeted go-to-market strategy centered on reframing the TBC story. Rather than presenting the Company as a traditional school bus operator, CMG emphasized its leading position in special education transportation, enabling prospective buyers to more fully appreciate TBC’s differentiated market position and strategic value. With this positioning as the foundation of the story, CMG approached a select group of potential partners capable of delivering meaningful liquidity while honoring the values on which the Tremblay family had built the business. The process generated competitive interest and produced offers at valuations representing a significant premium to those indicated in the prior sale process, providing the Trustees with a clear path toward a successful outcome. The Trustees selected Student Transportation of America (“STA”), an industry leader operating more than 22,000 vehicles across the United States and Canada. Sharing TBC’s commitment to service and bringing the resources to support its next chapter, STA emerged as the ideal partner to serve as a responsible steward of the Tremblay family legacy.