MicroCap M&A: UGE Take Private - Why it Happened, Why Now, Lessons Learned with Nick Blitterswyk, CEO of UGE International

My guest on the show today is Nick Blitterswyk, CEO of UGE International. On May 29, 2024, UGE announced an arrangement agreement for going private transaction with NOVA Infrastructure Fund for an all-cash consideration of C$2.00 per common share, a 270% premium to the closing price of the common shares on May 28, 2024. The company officially closed the planned take-private transaction on August 15, 2024. Today’s interview has a few factors at play here: 1. We’ve done quite a few interviews recently here, i.e., with Mathieu Martin and Paul Andreola, about how M&A has been hot, particularly in Canada, for the last 12-18 months, with no signs of slowing down. 2. I’ve known Nick now for almost 10 years, having first interviewed him back in 2015, and have covered the UGE journey from beginning to now conclusion of their life as a public company. So, I wanted to share with you all a conversation about Nick’s experience as a MicroCap public company CEO, what it means to run a MicroCap public company, what happened and why now was the time to go forward with the transaction to go private, lessons learned, insights to pass on about his experience being a MicroCap CEO and more! Now that the deal has officially closed, I really appreciated Nick’s candor and hopefully a lot can be gleaned from this episode that the entire MicroCap space can learn from, as well as a glimpse behind the thought process when faced with the prospect of staying public vs. being acquired/going private. For more information about UGE, please visit: https://ugei.com/ We’re excited to announce that we’ll be partnering up with MicroCapClub for our full slate of investor conferences in 2025. Ian Cassel and his team at MicroCapClub have not only built and fostered the best community of MicroCap investors, but it’s arguably one of the best investing communities, period. We couldn’t be more thrilled to leverage our expertise in curating and hosting large scale MicroCap conferences, and teaming up with MicroCapClub to put together world class conferences for the MicroCap community. First up, the Planet MicroCap Showcase: VEGAS in partnership with MicroCapClub will be held on April 22-24, 2025 at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Registration is now live, please visit: https://www.meetmax.com/sched/event_113149/conference_home.html. See you in Vegas! Planet MicroCap Podcast is on YouTube! All archived episodes and each new episode will be posted on the Planet MicroCap YouTube channel. I’ve provided the link in the description if you’d like to subscribe. You’ll also get the chance to watch all our Video Interviews with management teams, educational panels from the conference, as well as expert commentary from some familiar guests on the podcast. Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1Q5Yfym Click here to rate and review the Planet MicroCap Podcast The Planet MicroCap Podcast is brought to you by SNN Incorporated, The Official MicroCap News Source, and the Planet MicroCap Review Magazine, the leading magazine in the MicroCap market. You can Follow the Planet MicroCap Podcast on Twitter @BobbyKKraft