Redfern Concrete Construction

Learn About Our Client’s Success

Industry

Construction

Location

Portland, OR

Engagement Summary

Redfern Concrete Construction is a contractor in Portland, Oregon specializing in commercial concrete construction — specifically post tension slabs and concrete tip-up wall construction.

Lee Redfern started the company more than 50 years ago from nothing. He weathered the recession of 2008, paid off all debt incurred during that time, earned a very strong reputation in the Portland construction market and is widely regarded as a man of strong integrity. His company is in the top 20 percent of concrete contractors in the Portland market.

Business Situation

Lee and his wife were ready to sell the business and enjoy a retired life. Lee was concerned about having enough money to fund their retired years and didn’t want to leave any money on the table from what he knew was his most valuable asset — his business.

The Redferns wanted to sell to their son, Torey. And while reaping the profit from what they had built for so long was important, they didn’t want to place a cumbersome financial burden on their son that could compromise his success running the business.

Redfern engaged OneAccord to conduct a complete assessment of the business that would lead to development of a roadmap for selling the company.

Lee was hesitant to open up to any outside person about his personal financial portfolio, and wasn’t eager to have outside eyes prying into the innermost workings of the business he had singlehandedly grown from the ground up.

OneAccord Solution

We started by getting to know the owner and his son, and established a basis of trust.

Then we asked each key player to separately define their ideal objectives relative to the sale of the business. Once we had these objectives clearly defined, we used them to negotiate a set of shared objectives that brought each party into alignment with the others and cleared the way for forward movement toward structuring the sale.

Lee agreed to allow us to bring in a CPA and an attorney to assess financial approaches to the sale that would optimize the benefit for both Lee and Torey. During this process we realized that the entire transaction was heavily influenced by the retirement needs of the father balanced against his and his wife’s financial portfolio.

Lee and his wife agreed to share their current financial portfolio with a wealth adviser, which allowed us to further restructure and finalize a transaction approach that created a win for all parties.

Results

The end result was a plan that increased the sale price by 70 percent, reduced taxes on the proceeds and improved the financial portfolio and monthly retirement income for Lee and his wife. Lee’s after-tax income was even higher due to considerable tax savings structured within the transaction and the financial burden on their son was minimized, improving the likelihood of his success running the business.

Ownership of the company successfully transferred to Torey, who will carry on the Redfern legacy. We established a stock pool to give primary ownership of the company to the son, 30 percent to a key employee financed through sweat equity and a 10 percent pool for future employees. Finally, total payments from the company to Lee were structured so that the financial burden to the company is manageable from both cashflow and profitability standpoints.