Case Studies

Quad-C has partnered with dozens of owners and management teams to help build their companies through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

PARTNERING WITH GROWTH ORIENTED FOUNDERS

Vaco (the “Company”) is a leading IT, finance & accounting (“F&A”) and healthcare consulting, staffing and placement firm. At the time of our exit, the Company operated in 36 markets across the U.S. Vaco has a differentiated ownership model with the local management team owning a portion of the equity in each local market. Based in Nashville, Vaco had grown rapidly since its founding in 2002. Quad-C partnered with the three founders and completed a recapitalization in September 2014. The founders and local owners were looking for partial liquidity but wanted to remain with the business and were looking for a partner who could help them grow both organically and through acquisitions.

Quad-C had been seeking an investment in the professional staffing market for several years prior to partnering with Vaco. The market was large and highly fragmented, with growth being driven by both cyclical and secular tailwinds. We were attracted to Vaco specifically because the Company had a demonstrated track record of profitable growth with a strong culture, a unique ownership model and a team capable of taking market share in a fragmented industry.

EXECUTING THE STRATEGY

With the support of Quad-C, management executed on the value creation plan which included:

  • Investing heavily in sales and recruiting talent to drive growth

  • Building out the executive leadership team by hiring a Chief People Officer, Chief Marketing Officer and additional regional management

  • Building a scalable shared service platform and investing in an upgraded CRM system to allow for more disciplined metrics reporting

  • Extending core businesses lines across all the offices

  • Entering new markets via greenfield expansion

  • Completing seven acquisitions to expand the breadth of Vaco’s service lines and expand the Company’s geographic footprint both domestically and in Canada and India

As a result, Vaco’s sales and EBITDA more than doubled in three years.

EXIT

Given the Company’s strong growth, Quad-C sold its stake to a private equity group in November 2017.