ButcherJoseph Advises Whitewood Industries on Employee Buyout

Who is our client?

• Whitewood Industries (“Whitewood”) is a furniture wholesaler with over 300 employees.
• Whitewood imports wood furniture, assembles, and finishes the furniture at five facilities located in North Carolina in addition to operating a local retail operation.
• Whitewood is the largest wholesaler of unfinished wood furniture in the United States and serves serves large, mass-merchant online stores such as Amazon, Target and Wayfair, as well as regional or single-site retail stores.
• As one of the leading employers in Thomasville, NC, it was important to the founders to preserve jobs within their community and reward the employees who helped build the company to its industry-leading status.

Why did Whitewood hire ButcherJoseph?

• ButcherJoseph was engaged to structure and execute the sale of Whitewood Industries to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
• As part of its engagement, ButcherJoseph lead a thorough process to solicit proposals and negotiate terms for the debt capital used in the transaction.

What did ButcherJoseph deliver?

• ButcherJoseph structured and negotiated an ESOP buyout that yielded meaningful liquidity upon closing to the selling shareholders through an outside senior capital source.
• The ESOP buyout included immediate and future liquidity as well as tax savings opportunities for both the selling shareholders and the company on a go-forward basis.
• In order to incentivize members of the Company’s leadership team who remained in place following the transaction, ButcherJoseph negotiated and structured a management incentive plan intended to offer performance-based wealth creation.
• In addition to facilitating the selling shareholders’ desired exit strategy, the ESOP is intended to be a rewarding wealth creation tool for the Company’s eligible employees.