The Home Depot/Harris Research

• Industry Consumer, Industrial
• Type M&A Sell-Side

About
Harris Research is a leading franchisor of business, commerical, and in-home consumer services in the U.S. and internationally through two franchise concepts: Chem-Dry, the world's largest provider of carpet and upholstery cleaning services, and N-Hance, a leading national provider of wood cabinet and floor renewal services.

Situation
The Company was owned by The Home Depot, which decided to divest of the business as part of a broader corporate strategy. The Home Depot hired Croft & Bender to run a full exclusive sale process, which included valuing the Company, identifying potential acquirers, drafting the offering memorandum and related materials, marketing the Company, selecting a buyer, and negotiating the transaction.

Result
Croft & Bender ran a highly competitive process that generated numerous attractive written offers for the Company. To increase the certainty of a close and keep the process competitive, two parties remained in the process after submitting LOIs to proceed with confirmatory due diligence and definitive document negotiation. After completion of confirmatory diligence and final negotiations, the two parties submitted final bids, and the winning bidder executed definitive documents one week later. The competitive nature of the process drove increasing valuations throughout the process and increased speed to close.