Mertz transitioning M&A business; Southwest Airlines closes on AirTran acquisition; API Healthcare to terminate merger agreement
Mertz transitioning M&A business
Mertz Associates Inc., a Waukesha-based investment banking firm and one of the best-known names in the mergers and acquisition business in metro Milwaukee, announced changes to its business that will take shape over the next several months.
Doug Marconnet, managing director, and Robert Jansen, principal, will take ownership of Mertz’s full-service transaction business on June 1. They will rename the firm at that time, but will continue to operate the firm as in its present form.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Linda Mertz, managing director of the firm, will retain the Mertz Associates name, and will transfer it to a consulting firm that will be involved in select transactions.
“This has been in the works for a while – Doug has been groomed for this,” Mertz said. “And it frees me up for making more of a consultative offering. What I’m seeing in the market is a growing demand and need in the marketplace by companies that need help charting their direction before they approach an M&A firm.”
The core Mertz Associates team will continue to work together in Marconnet and Jansen’s new firm, Marconnet said. Although Mertz will be working on her new consultation offering, she will continue to work with Marconnet and Jansen.
“We fully expect to work on deals (together) for years to come,” Marconnet said. “There are transactions that will continue past this transition, and there are new prospects we’re working on together.”
“We’ve had a lot of fun over the years,” Mertz said. “And our skills complement one another – we intend to keep having fun.”
Marconnet and Jansen will be focused on transitioning their new firm over the next few months, but believe there are growth opportunities over the next few years.
“We’re really excited about the market opportunities we see,” Marconnet said. “Growth is a good word, and something we have in mind.”
“It’s an exciting time to be in this business,” Jansen said. “There are a lot of buyers with cash on the sidelines. And there is a pent up supply of sellers that have been holding off – we’re now seeing companies that have had a strong year in 2010, and we can position those companies very well.”
Between now and June 1, Mertz, Marconnet and Jansen will work together to transition all of the company’s clients. Marconnet and Jansen are now looking at office space for their yet-to-be-named firm.
“We’re looking downtown primarily,” Jansen said. “The heart of downtown would be a great place to be for the firm, from a strategic standpoint.”
Southwest Airlines closes on AirTran acquisition
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has closed on its purchase of all of the outstanding common stock of AirTran Holdings, Inc., the former parent company of AirTran Airways.
Southwest and AirTran will immediately begin the work to integrate AirTran into Southwest Airlines. However, AirTran will continue to operate under the AirTran brand with its same policies, procedures, and product features for “a period of time.” Southwest plans to integrate AirTran into Southwest Airlines over time by transitioning the AirTran fleet to the Southwest Airlines livery, developing a consistent customer experience.
Southwest estimates it will take several years to fully transition AirTran into Southwest Airlines to become one airline.
In the near term, customers can expect to interact with each carrier as they always have. Customers flying on AirTran will continue to make reservations or check in at airtran.com.
"The successful closing of this transaction is a significant accomplishment and marks a great day in the history of Southwest Airlines. I want to thank the people from both Southwest and AirTran who helped us achieve this important milestone," said Gary Kelly, chief executive officer, chairman, and president of Southwest Airlines. "Our first order of business is to welcome our new friends from AirTran to the family in a truly Southwest Airlines way.
API Healthcare to terminate merger agreement
API Healthcare, a Hartford-based provider of health care workforce management technology, announced it intends to terminate its previously announced merger agreement with Kronos Inc.
The agreement between Kronos and API Healthcare was entered into in January and allows either party to terminate if regulatory approvals have not been received by mid-May.
After considering the best interests of its clients and associates following the U.S. Department of Justice’s second request under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, API Healthcare determined that the best path forward is to pursue its standalone strategy and has notified Kronos of its intention to exercise its termination right.
"This process has been challenging, but it has also reaffirmed that our vision for health care-specific workforce management is solid," said J.P. Fingado, president and chief executive officer of API Healthcare. "During the HSR review process we heard the strong reaction of our health care provider clients from across the country as they spoke out with passionate support of our solutions, services and strategy."
On average, labor represents 60 percent of a hospital’s operating costs. API Healthcare provides the technology that empowers its clients to increase quality of care while reducing operating costs through the optimization of their workforce.
"We look forward to continuing our mission to optimize healthcare-specific workforce management, which allows our clients to align their clinical and financial goals," Fingado said. "We did not slow down our service and innovation initiatives during the past several months. We are still fully committed to delivering innovative healthcare-specific workforce management solutions that will result in better patient care and financial outcomes for our clients and the entire healthcare industry."
"When we acquired API Healthcare two years ago, we saw the opportunity for long-term growth of a great healthcare-specific workforce management technology company," said Ezra Perlman of Francisco Partners. "While the merger offer from Kronos certainly validated API Healthcare’s strong value proposition, Francisco Partners is looking forward to continuing to provide strong support to the API Healthcare management team and associates as they continue on their aggressive growth path as an independent company."
