Modern

Summary

Financial Advisor

Bristol, PA

Modern Group is a distributor of industrial and construction equipment, providing sales, rental, parts, and service solutions. It specializes in equipment such as forklifts, aerial lifts, generators, and construction machinery, serving industries like warehousing, logistics, construction, and material handling.

Carl Marks Advisors (CMA) was engaged to review and revise Modern Group’s restructuring plan, initially focused on reducing its unprofitable Aerial Work Platform rental fleet. CMA facilitated a complete exit from the Aerial Work Platform business, a re-alignment to a forklift dealership model, and operational footprint rationalization, including closing eight locations and selling real estate. The plan resulted in asset and real estate sales, annual cost reductions, a reduction in senior debt, and a successful refinancing to support the forklift dealership model.

Key Challenges

Declining Profitability

Management Forecasting Errors

Asset Dispositions

Engagement Highlights

Company management had significantly underestimated the amount of unprofitable assets in the fleet. With the help of CMA, Modern overhauled its operational restructuring plan to include the following:
- Total exit of the Aerial Work Platform business. Facilitated by asset sales and equipment lease exit/transfer through several large transactions.
- Re-alignment to go back to being a forklift dealership model.
- Rationalized operating footprint due to restructuring. Closed 8 operating locations. Generated additional proceeds through real estate sales and real estate lease savings.
With the successful operating plan in place, the Company was able to accomplish the following:
- $12.0M of asset sales of non-core assets.
- $2.5M of real estate sales.
- Identified annual operating cost reductions of $13.0M.
- Reduction in Senior debt by approximately $12.0M.
- Successful re-financing the ABL loan to support forklift dealership model.

Modern

Summary

Financial Advisor

Key Challenges

Engagement Highlights

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