Founders Advises Rea Brothers Mid-South Auction on a Strategic Sale

Founders Investment Banking, LLC is pleased to announce that it advised the shareholders of Rea Brothers Mid-South Auction (RBMSA) on the sale of the company to American Auto Auction Group (AAAG). Founded in 1972, RBMSA is a Jackson, Mississippi-based auto/vehicle auction that, in addition to its core auction function, provides a full complement of automotive remarketing services, including reconditioning, repair, and transportation. AAAG was recently formed as a partnership between veteran industry executives and Chicago-based private equity group Baird Capital Partners. Baird will provide significant capital to fund AAAG’s core strategy of building a nationwide auto auction platform through the acquisition and consolidation of independent auction facilities and related service providers. Befitting its strong industry reputation, market leadership, and history of performance, RBMSA was one of AAAG’s initial acquisitions and a cornerstone of the realization of the company’s buy-and-build strategic objectives.

Our family has owned and operated RBMSA since its founding over 37 years ago, and we are proud of the brand and organization that we built through hard work, excellent customer service, and a clear sense of integrity and fairness with our customers and employees,” said John Rea, who was President of RBMSA and is now General Manager of the RBMSA subsidiary of AAAG. “As with many family-owned businesses, there were unique challenges in this transaction, and the Founders team did a great job of navigating these issues. They were able to negotiate a great outcome that successfully accomplished our goals of liquidity, wealth diversification, and ongoing involvement in the business.”

It was a pleasure working with the Rea family, and we were very excited to structure and complete a transaction that met the various needs of the shareholders and family members,” indicated Zane Tarence, Managing Director at Founders Investment Banking. “The auto auction industry is an interesting, evolving, and exciting place right now, and – using our disciplined sell-side processes – we believe we found the best buyer and solution for the family.”

We are extremely excited to have one of the preeminent independent auto auctions become part of the AAAG platform,” commented Steve Simon, CEO of AAAG. “Given its scope of services, customer loyalty, and operational team, RBMSA is just the type of organization that we want to build our company around. We look forward to bringing similar businesses under the AAAG umbrella in the coming months and years.”