The staggering number of private companies facing generational transition is hardly a secret. Many are of enough scale to merit consideration from attractive strategic industry buyers, often a comfortable and desirable route. As well, traditional private equity funds have held appeal over the last couple of decades as a temporary resting spot. An important question for any founder/owner is: what is life really like moving forward? There may be more capital and cushion, but is there alignment between the natural lifecycle of the business and the motives of the buyer? Is eventually resting as an after-thought in the 2-year-raise/5-year-invest/3-year-harvest private equity industry treadmill appealing? Is forced management toward the next structurally demanded underlying fund liquidity event in the service of all stakeholders, not least the founder and their family, employees and customers?

While these same questions as well exist for smaller private companies, private equity interest is increasingly coming in the form of a boom in search funds or ETAs (“Entrepreneurship through Acquisition”). Top business schools, podcasts and national publications increasingly posit the potential of quick riches and management authority via ETA, with the smart, hungry and young taking control of a small business in a fragmented space to commence a consolidative path. The stories of success are increasingly well-known, but are less so the majority, beset by the underplayed risks of inexperience, misaligned priorities and lack of tangible and intangible resources with which to ameliorate the inevitable specific business and industry challenges. Never mind the ever-present need for the search-funded buyer to eye the next liquidity event, which may or may not super-cede the long-term health and qualitative goals for the seller and their enterprise.

Through its funding and management of RE Family Acquisition Corp, Royal Elk sees a different path for those contemplating a generational transition – putting the business in the hands of an experienced, well-funded, family-grounded, permanent owner specifically seeking alignment with the seller on dimensions including, but not limited to, obvious financial priorities.  Royal Elk sees differentiated appeal for sellers in this proposition, and other aligned institutional investors interested in long-term ownership of private assets.  RE Family Acquisition Corp is a choice, away from the defining transactional nature of traditional private equity, and toward the preservation and growth of cash flows, dividends and other sustaining metrics of business success in and around communities.