By Ralph Amato
I was at the JCK convention in Vegas last week for four days. In case you are wondering what “is” the JCK convention let me give you a quick overview. Basically, JCK is the largest annual convention in the US for jewelry manufacturers. There are over 4,000 jewelry manufacturers in [...]

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By Ralph Amato
When the planets align there are certain industries that are ripe for a roll up strategy.  Right now that industry is in the jewelry business.
The jewelry industry is steeped in tradition and hasn’t changed since the coming of Christ.  That is the problem.  The retail side of the industry is consolidating and the [...]

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. acquired two gold jewelry manufacturers Bel-Oro International and Aurafin LLC to become the largest jewelry supplier in the United States. The two new organizations will be combined to form the Richline Group which will continue to market the existing jewelry brands under their respective old names. This will save costs by maintaining [...]

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Recently, my company, Ventana Capital Partners, has been involved with two companies that are seeking to go public through a reverse shell merger to implement a roll-up strategy of their respective industries.  Both of these industries are definitely not “flourishing” and in both cases the industries are staged for a full scale consolidation where only [...]

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What is a Roll-Up
A roll up is the consolidation of several small businesses under one roof, usually through a publicly held holding company. The concept works extremely well with mom and pop business owners. The roll-up strategy can be very successful if you have capable management steering the ship and an industry where the [...]

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