Dalton sells remaining portion of Novo 1
George Dalton, one of the Milwaukee area’s most renowned entrepreneurs, has sold the last remaining pieces of Novo 1 to the private investors he acquired the company from in 2000. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
In October, Dalton sold key assets of Novo 1 to Glencoe Capital’s Michigan Opportunities Fund, a private equity investor. Glencoe Capital acquired the Novo 1 brand name and said in October that it will expand its employment with 300 new jobs in Michigan. Last summer, Novo 1 had about 1,500 employees, most of them located in Texas.
Glencoe Capital has retained all of Novo 1’s employees who were part of the transaction, Dalton said, and the buyers of the rest of the company will retain all of its remaining workers, aside from workers in the company’s corporate office.
Dalton will continue working at Novo 1 until the end of the year to smooth the transition to its new owners.
“We’re working with the buyers in helping them find a way through things,” he said.
Dalton, who founded Fiserv Inc. in 1984, decided about two years ago to sell Novo 1. The company has struggled since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when its largest customer, American Airlines, cancelled its biggest account.
“Personally, I ran out of energy, and my enthusiasm waned,” he said. “I wasn’t having a good time anymore.”
Dalton has no intentions of retiring – he’s already talked with several area businesspeople about his next opportunity.
“I refused to do anything until I got this done,” he said. “But after the holidays, I’ll get more involved.”
