Sell-side M&A · Defense · Industrial · Home Services
Sell from strength.
M&A advisory for founder-owned businesses. One side of the table. Yours.
Sound familiar
Every founder arrives at this moment. Few feel ready for it.
Whatever brought you to this page, it probably looks like one of these.
The calls have started
Private equity platforms, prime contractors, and consolidators are calling. A few are serious. Most are just scouting. We help you tell the difference before you share a single number.
Succession is getting real
There is no successor on the bench, and the kids chose their own paths. The business is the retirement plan. It only pays out if the sale is done well.
The next job needs more than you can fund
Bigger contracts and new territories take bonding, trucks and facilities, hiring, and working capital that one founder cannot carry alone. The right buyer brings all of it, and you can keep a stake in what comes next.
What we do
What a good sale takes.
One senior team runs the whole job, from the first valuation to the wire transfer.
Know your number
We start with a confidential valuation grounded in what buyers are actually paying for businesses like yours. Not a wishful number picked to win your signature. A defensible one.
Run a real process
One unsolicited offer is not a market. We bring multiple qualified buyers to the table at the same time, so competition sets the price instead of the buyer's opening bid.
Close on your terms
Price is only part of a good deal. Structure, your people, your role after closing, and your name on the building all count. You decide what matters. We negotiate for it.
Deal types
The deals we run.
Founder-built companies sold to private equity backed platforms, including aerospace and defense (A&D) buyers, and to strategic acquirers.
Illustrative examples of the deal types we focus on. Not actual engagements.
Defense
Precision Defense Machining
Acquired by a private equity backed A&D platform
Industrial
Specialty Industrial Distribution
Acquired by a strategic acquirer
Home Services
Residential HVAC and Plumbing
Acquired by a private equity backed platform
How it works
Six stages. One outcome.
Most sales run 6 to 9 months from first conversation to close. Here is the shape of the work.
01
Confidential valuation
Weeks 1 to 3. A grounded number, seen by no one but you.
02
Preparation and packaging
Weeks 4 to 8. Clean books and a clear story buyers take seriously.
03
Confidential buyer outreach
Weeks 8 to 14. The right buyers approached quietly, each under a confidentiality agreement.
04
Offers and negotiation
Weeks 14 to 20. Competing offers compared side by side and negotiated up.
05
Diligence
Weeks 20 to 30. The buyer verifies everything. We keep it moving and keep surprises out.
06
Close and transition
Weeks 30 to 36. Papers signed, funds wired, your people looked after.
Sectors
Three practices. One playbook.
Twelve sectors in three groups, and one way of selling them well.
Defense
Suppliers and service firms inside the defense industrial base, from the machine shop to the program office.
- Precision manufacturing and defense components
- Aerospace and defense MRO
- C5ISR and defense electronics
- Government and mission services
Industrial
The businesses that keep plants and infrastructure running, from automation to distribution.
- Industrial automation and electrical services
- Precision machining and fabrication
- Industrial distribution
- Testing, inspection, and calibration
Home Services
Residential trades with recurring service revenue and brands their neighbors trust.
- Residential HVAC and plumbing
- Residential electrical and generators
- Roofing and exteriors
- Pest control and recurring home services
Why Archen
Why founders pick us.
Archen takes its name from the arch, the structure that gets stronger as the load on it increases.
One side of the table
We are sell-side only. We never represent buyers, so there is no quiet pressure to keep a buyer happy at your expense. You are the only client in the room.
We speak your language
We know a recompete (a contract coming back up for bid) from a new start in defense, a service agreement from a time-and-materials job in the trades, and an integrator from a distributor on the plant floor. Buyers hear the difference, and they pay for it.
Senior-led
The partner who sits across from you in the first meeting runs your deal to the last day. Partner-led, every engagement, and your sale is never handed down to a junior team.
Aligned fees
The first conversation costs nothing. After that, a modest engagement fee, credited against a success fee we earn only when your deal closes. We are paid when you are.
Founder's library
Straight answers, written down.
What we tell founders in a first meeting, free to read. No gate and no follow-up call.
What is your business actually worth?
How buyers get from your profit to a price, and why two similar suppliers can sell for very different numbers.
Private equity found the defense industrial base. Here's why.
Where the wave of buyer interest in the supplier base came from, and what it means for the value of your company.
Twelve months out: eight things to fix before you sell.
The fixes that add real money to a sale price, starting a year before you go to market.