Minuteman
Ventures to Combine
with Venture Management
Investment
Banking Firms To Expand Federal M&A Practice
Los Angeles, CA, Washington, D.C. and Boston, MA, May 21, 2008 - Venture
Management, Inc. and Minuteman Ventures LLC, both long-time merger and
acquisition advisors, announced today that they will combine operations.
The combined firm will continue to provide M&A advisory services
to a broad spectrum of federal contractor clients serving defense, aerospace,
intelligence, homeland security and civilian sectors; these clients
include public and privately held corporations, as well as their investors
and lead executives.
The firm will operate as Venture Management, Inc. (www.venturemanagement.com). Mark Shappee, who founded Venture Management in 1985, remains the firm’s Managing Principal. Minuteman President Paul Serotkin joins Venture Management as a Senior Advisor. Paul founded Minuteman in 2002 and has established himself and Minuteman Ventures as a premiere M&A resource in the federal, aerospace and defense market. The advisory team and offices of both organizations will be maintained with expansion plans to be announced later in the year.
Venture Management’s success in the federal sector has been highlighted recently by the management buy-out of I.T.S. Corporation (“ITS”) and subsequent strategic build-up through acquisitions, which more than doubled ITS’ size and significantly improved its performance against other key valuation metrics; this build-up ultimately led to ITS’ sale to QinetiQ North America in 2007. Additionally, Venture Management continues to execute on an acquisition strategy developed with publicly traded client, SM&A; two transactions were completed for SM&A in 2007, increasing the company’s service offerings and market penetration.
“We are very pleased to be merging forces with Minuteman Ventures,” said Mark Shappee. “This is a combination that expands our national coverage, enhances our experience base in the federal market, and generally deepens our presence in the federal contracting sector.”
“From the Minuteman Ventures perspective,” said Paul Serotkin, “we gain additional resources in our mission to initiate, facilitate and execute corporate transactions in the federal contracting sector. By partnering with Venture Management, we take advantage of their strong ethics, ability to deliver proprietary non-sourced transaction opportunities and their legacy of successful deal making.”
Both Shappee and Serotkin bring legacies of creating shareholder value
for defense and industrial corporations. Prior to founding Venture Management,
Shappee held executive positions at TRW (now Northrop-Grumman) and other
multinational corporations where he had the opportunity to lead M&A,
divestitures, and other corporate development initiatives; his positions
included serving as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Marketing and
Development Officer. Serotkin previously headed M&A for AverStar
and Pacer Infotec, while serving as Chief Financial Officer for a subsidiary
of Titan Corporation (now part of L-3 Communications). Together, Shappee
and Serotkin offer their clients the perspective and experience that
comes from having more than 35 years in corporate development and operating
roles in industry and more than 30 years in investment banking.
Under the Venture Management name, the firm will continue to publish
its industry-leading on-line newsletter, Federal Growth Report. To sign
up for the newsletter,
click here.
For more information regarding Venture Management’s services,
call Mark Shappee at (805) 644-5335 (mark@venturemanagement.com)
or Paul Serotkin at (781) 750- 8065 (paul@venturemanagement.com).
Venture Management is a member of the Professional Services
Council (www.psccouncil.org),
the leading association for firms providing services to federal government
customers.
