Houlihan Lokey Advises Spinnaker SCA

Transaction: Spinnaker - Black Lake - Source Capital - Publicis Groupe

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Spinnaker SCA Holdings, LLC (Spinnaker), a portfolio company of Black Lake Capital (Black Lake) and Source Capital, LLC (Source Capital), has been acquired by Sapient Corp. (Sapient), a subsidiary of Publicis Groupe (Publicis). The transaction closed on March 8, 2024. Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Spinnaker.

Spinnaker is a leading supply chain services firm providing supply chain management consulting, supply chain planning, and supply chain execution services. Formed in 2021 through the merger of SCApath and Spinnaker, Spinnaker SCA offers a comprehensive suite of services aimed at enhancing the supply chain performance of its diverse customer base. With more than two decades of experience, Spinnaker's three primary service offerings encompass:

  • Supply Chain Management Consulting, which includes strategic assessments and roadmaps; network design; partner selections; and technology vendor selections
  • Supply Chain Planning, which includes integrated business planning; demand, supply, and inventory planning; planning system implementation and support; planning training; and change management
  • Supply Chain Execution, which includes distribution operations optimization; facility layout and design; warehouse systems implementation and support; and automation strategy and implementation

The company's technology expertise is deeply rooted in Blue Yonder, Kinaxis, and Manhattan Associates, three premier software providers focused on global supply chain solutions.

Black Lake Capital is a private investment firm partnering with technology and innovation-enabled businesses generating $2 million–$12 million in annual cash flow.

“The Spinnaker team’s supply chain technology expertise drove the company’s remarkable growth during our investment period, and we are thankful for their leadership," said Black Lake Managing Partner Chad Scripps.

Source Capital is a private equity firm that invests in lower-middle-market companies across a range of industries. Source Capital’s investment strategy targets growing companies with greater than $2 million of EBITDA. Since its founding in 2002, Source Capital has made 23 equity platform investments, 39 add-on acquisitions, and 28 debt investments.

“We have had the privilege of partnering with Black Lake Capital to support their investment in Spinnaker SCA. The Spinnaker SCA team has done an outstanding job of designing and delivering complex supply chain solutions for their customers nationwide. During our partnership, the company has successfully expanded its offering into adjacent supply chain offerings through both an organic and M&A strategy. We look forward to the continued success of both companies,” said Source Capital Managing Director Joe Rodgers.

Houlihan Lokey’s IT Services team is among the most active M&A advisors in the market, having closed nearly 90 IT services transactions in the past 24 months.* This most recent transaction further strengthens Houlihan Lokey’s leadership in the supply chain tech services universe and highlights continued momentum and leadership in its core vertical, which includes cloud/data and analytics, digital engineering, enterprise applications, and managed and security services.

*Including acquired firm transactions.

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