INVESTMENT BANKER OF THE YEAR

people stick around. It builds momentum, and we’re not seeing people come and go.”

That consistency helped the 36-person team provide advisory services to several notable deals last year, including working with Prime Technologies Inc., a provider of calibration management software, on its sale to TMA Systems, a portfolio company of Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm with $3.3 billion of capital under management.

Mark Simner, CEO of TMA Systems, says the deal, which was announced in October, delivered on several goals, including a reduction in organizational costs, growth in the return on assets, and improvements on “overall time to value.”

In a separate deal, Blue River advised Grommet, an e-retailer and portfolio company of ACE Hardware, in its recent sale to GiddyUp, a performance marketing network that drives online sales among hundreds of popular brands.

“Over the last two years, we’ve been working with ACE Hardware to assist them with their spin-off and acquisition strategies,” Berent says. “Grommet was one of their spin-offs. It was a nonstrategic asset, and we were happy to take it to market. We found a number of interested parties and, as it turned out, Grommet was a very good fit for GiddyUp. Now ACE Hardware can look to invest in other opportunities, such as the service industry.”