Time to exit for Exacq management?

History might suggest a sale, but Exacq leadership say they're staying put
Thursday, August 26, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS—Exacq’s inclusion on this year’s Inc. 500 list, released this week (see full story here), may create a feeling of deja vu for some industry historians. The management leading Exacq are in many cases the same folks who started broadcast video product-maker Truevision, which merged with RasterOps in 1992; and who started DVR-maker Integral Technologies, which sold to Andover Controls in 2000 just after a similar listing on the 2000 Inc. 500 list.

Has Exacq reached a point where it makes sense to look to sell?

“Both companies were sold at about the same time in their development,” acknowledged Tom Buckley, Exacq director of sales and marketing, who was with both Truevision and Integral. Both companies were at roughly $25 million in sales when they sold.

“We’re about a year or more from that now with Exacq,” Buckley said, “but we have not discussed a sale internally. At Integral, we hired an investment bank to shop the company around, and we’re not doing that now. We think this company has a lot more to offer than those did.”

“No,” he joked, “American Dynamics is not acquiring us, which is something I’ve heard a few times.”

Why does Exacq have such a rosy future? Buckley said there may be a lot of competition in the VMS world, “but who’s independent and stable in the U.S. right now?” He feels the company still has a lot of room to grow in the market.

With a possible market shake-out looming, Exacq marketing manager Roger Shuman, who was also with Integral, thinks Exacq could stand-out by staying put. “Sure, this is the third company, and people might ask, ‘When are you going to sell it?,’ but honestly one of the things we’ve done really well is built strong brands and strong brand loyalty. People still know the Truevision name—it was a very strong brand name, as was Integral.”