Case Study · Buy-Side M&A
Buy-Side M&A: A $12M Marine & Powersports Acquisition with $20M+ in Floor Plan Financing
LCG represented a private buyer in the acquisition of Avalanche Motorsports — a family-owned marine and powersports dealership in Washington, NC, doing $40M in revenue and $3M in EBITDA. Beyond the $12M purchase price, the engagement required structuring $20M+ in floor plan financing for revolving inventory across boats, motorcycles, and powersports. Closed April 7, 2026, delivering a 100%+ cash-on-cash return and over $1M in annual free cash flow.
The Mandate
A Diversification Play, on the Client's Terms
The client — a Northeast-based operator with holdings in real estate and software — engaged LCG with a clear thesis. They wanted a cash-flow-positive operating business that could be run remotely, diversify exposure away from real estate cycles and software margins, and serve as a platform for the kind of automation and real-time reporting their technical background was built for. The brief was specific: durable cash flow, an installed management team, and operational complexity that a software-minded owner could meaningfully improve without being on the floor every day.
The Target
One of the Southeast's Largest Marine & Powersports Dealers
Avalanche Motorsports, founded in 2005 by the Myers family in Washington, North Carolina, has grown into one of the largest-volume marine and powersports dealers in the Southeast — the largest single-point Sea Fox dealer in the country and the fastest-growing Carolina Skiff dealer in the region. With locations in Washington and Wilmington, a service department, and a parts and rental operation, the business retails over 1,000 units annually on $40M in revenue and $3M in EBITDA. For the client, the fit was clean: predictable cash flow, a tenured local management team, and a customer-facing operation with obvious room for digital instrumentation.
The Challenge
Financing the Business and the $20M+ Floor
The complication wasn't the operating business. It was the floor. Boat and powersports dealerships of this size carry north of $20M in working inventory at any given moment — boats, motorcycles, dirt bikes, parts — financed through specialized floor plan facilities that turn with every sale. Acquiring the company meant acquiring the floor, which meant the financing package had to underwrite both the $12M purchase price and the revolving inventory line behind it. Most lenders were comfortable with one or the other. Few were comfortable with both, structured to close on the same timeline.
The Execution
Search, Lender Process, Capital Raise, and Close
LCG ran the engagement end to end: sourced the opportunity against the client's diversification and remote-ownership criteria, secured the business under contract, and ran a competitive interview process across specialty lenders capable of handling combined acquisition and floor plan financing. To close the gap between senior debt and the client's equity, LCG structured and placed an investor capital raise. The team also managed financial, commercial, and legal diligence; coordinated counsel through purchase agreement, floor plan documentation, and closing; and built the post-close operating plan — including the owner's automation and reporting roadmap, management transition, and floor plan governance.
The Outcome
100%+ Cash-on-Cash, $1M+ in Annual Free Cash Flow
The transaction closed on April 7, 2026. The deal delivers a 100%+ cash-on-cash return at signing and frees up over $1M in annual cash flow to the owner. More importantly, it puts a technical operator on top of an asset built for technology-led leverage — instrumented inventory, lead routing, service throughput, and unit-level margin visibility — run remotely from the Northeast. For the client, the deal delivered the diversification thesis they came in with, and a platform for the kind of value creation that compounds when a software-minded owner gets the right business under them.
By the Numbers
Deal outcomes that speak for themselves.
From a stalled search to a closed deal and a growing business — in less time than most searchers spend reviewing CIMs.
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