ButcherJoseph Advises Haberfeld Associates

June 2021


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“This is a major milestone in Haberfeld’s story. The ability to shift ownership to the employees and continue our story inspires all of us to achieve even more growth for the company.”

Alan Friesen

CEO, Haberfeld Associates

Who is our client?

  • Haberfeld Associates is the nation’s premier retail and business customer acquisition partner for financial institutions.
  • Founded in 1989 with headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, Haberfeld provides direct marketing and customer acquisition consulting and marketing services to financial institutions in the U.S.
  • For more than 35 years, Haberfeld has partnered with financial institutions to grow their customer base, leading to significantly more low-cost core deposits, enhanced cross-sell, and increased fee and interchange income.
  • To date, Haberfeld has partnered with nearly 600 financial institutions and is a recognized pioneer in the field of bank customer acquisition and profitability enhancement.
  • Haberfeld’s superior customer acquisition strategy is evidenced by their clients demonstrating a 28% higher ROA and 23% higher ROE than the industry average.

Why did Haberfeld engage ButcherJoseph?

  • Haberfeld initially engaged ButcherJoseph to pursue a transition to 100% ESOP ownership in 2013. Since the successful conversion to employee ownership, management believes the ESOP structure has greatly benefited company operations by aligning and incentivizing the workforce, and by gelling the company culture.
  • Since 2013, Haberfeld met and exceeded financial expectations. The Company has used its cash prudently and has been able to aggressively deliver.
  • ButcherJoseph was engaged to analyze Haberfeld’s current financial position in the context of its recent stock price appreciation combined with future growth opportunities and associated risks.
  • To address legacy liabilities and align the next generation of management and leaders for future value creation, ButcherJoseph performed an analysis on the need for, and potential impact, of alternative capital transactions.

What did ButcherJoseph deliver?

  • In the first phase of the engagement, ButcherJoseph conducted a historical financial review, industry analysis, scenario-based analysis, and pro forma transaction modeling.
  • Given the results of that analysis, the Board of Haberfeld directed ButcherJoseph to execute one of the alternatives as presented.
  • ButcherJoseph subsequently created compelling marketing materials, ran a thorough debt capital raise process, and managed the negotiation process with the ESOP trustee.
  • Ultimately, the successful execution of the deal substantially improved Haberfeld’s capital structure and its ability to tackle future challenges, while maintaining the ESOP structure and the Company’s thriving employee ownership culture.