Adam Duggins·April 10, 2023

How to Build a Holdco of 4 Blue Collar Businesses in 10 Years | Adam Duggins Interview

Adam Duggins is a former Bain consultant and UVA Darden MBA who returned to his hometown of Greensboro, NC in 2013 to build a geographically focused holdco, New Page Capital, acquiring four blue-collar businesses over a decade alongside 50/50 partner Rick Ramsey (a former investment banker). Starting with zero professional network and no income, Adam conducted 650 in-person networking meetings in year one — uncovering the leads for all four eventual acquisitions. He acquired: Engineered Steel Products (structural steel fabricator, 2014, now $35m revenue), American Industrial (commercial HVAC contractor, 2017, $15-17m revenue), Jet Hot (automotive engine part coating, 2019, $6m revenue), and WC Rouse (boiler sales & service, 2022, $10-14m). All deals were financed with senior bank debt, seller notes, and earnouts — deliberately avoiding SBA to preserve earnout flexibility and buying at 3-4x EBITDA. By 2023 the portfolio spans ~220 employees and ~$75m aggregate revenue. Adam's defining philosophy is patient, people-first ownership: he emphasizes minimal disruption in the first year post-acquisition, deep investment in hourly workers' financial wellness, and a 30-year permanent hold horizon. The shared services model across the holdco (centralizing IT, safety, finance) emerged organically as the portfolio grew, and the hiring of the former Greensboro city manager as a professional operator has allowed the founders to focus on future deal sourcing.

Deal facts

multiple: 3-4x EBITDA (implied; 'lower multiple' / 'value-based buyers of three to four times ebitda')
revenue: $75m aggregate portfolio revenue (2023); individual businesses: ESP ~$12m at acquisition (now ~$35m), AIC ~$10-12m at acquisition (now $15-17m), Jet Hot ~$6m, WC Rouse ~$10-14m
financing structure: Senior bank note + seller notes + earnouts (4 tranches: earn-out, seller note, bank note, equity); minority investors who were pro-rata guarantors; no SBA (earnout incompatible with SBA)
notes: Four acquisitions over ~10 years under holdco New Page Capital (Greensboro, NC Triad). 1) Engineered Steel Products (structural steel fabricator), closed Nov 2014; 2) American Industrial (commercial HVAC contractor), closed Jan 2017; 3) Jet Hot (automotive parts coating/heat treatment), acquired early 2019; 4) WC Rouse (boiler sales & service), acquired Sept 2022. Partnership 50/50 with Rick Ramsey after initial compensatory equity for search labor. ~220 employees total (2023).

Why this business

Adam was drawn to blue-collar, legacy businesses being ignored by private equity (which only looked above $3-5m EBITDA), saw a succession planning gap that he could personally fill as operator, and deliberately chose the underserved Greensboro/Triad market where competitors weren't looking. He was also drawn to the tangible, community-rooted nature of the work and the workforce itself.

What's working

Deep proprietary network built through 650 in-person meetings in year one — all four businesses were uncovered in that first year of searching
Geographic focus on an underserved market (Greensboro/Triad, NC) with limited competition from other searchers or PE firms
50/50 partnership with Rick Ramsey (former investment banker), with complementary skills and aligned incentives via equal equity splits
Low multiple (3-4x EBITDA) value-based buying with earnouts bridging valuation gaps, avoiding need for SBA
Patience and stability-first integration — minimal changes in first 6-12 months to retain key employees and earn trust
Shared services model across the holdco (IT, safety officer, Director of Finance) making overhead viable across multiple small businesses
Hiring David Adjei (former Greensboro city manager) as primary operator, freeing founders to focus on deal origination
Strong employee retention through genuine people investment — financial wellness programs, 401k match, healthcare — leading to retention advantages post-COVID
Long-term hold (30-year horizon, no fund pressure) enabling patient capital deployment and compounding relationships
Revenue growth: ESP from $12m to $35m; AIC from $10-12m to $15-17m over hold period

What's hard

Cross-selling synergies between ESP (steel) and AIC (HVAC) to shared GC customers proved far slower and harder to realize than anticipated — still working on it six years in
Jet Hot revenue flatlined (~$6m) due to COVID disrupting automotive supply chains
Labor challenges in blue-collar trades, especially mid-career talent pipeline gap from mass exodus during 2008-09 construction downturn
Early integration mistakes — e.g., discarding physical drawings at ESP created employee anxiety; learned to listen and change nothing for the first year
No SBA leverage available due to earnout structure, requiring investor guarantors on early deals
Geographic pool of target businesses in the Triad is finite and getting tighter after 10 years of active search
Centralization vs. decentralization tension as holdco grows
Partner search was self-funded with no income for a full year, running down savings with a growing family (fourth child born during search year)

Notable quotes

What is wild is all four businesses that we've eventually bought I uncovered in that first year. All four.

I wanted to clean the office up. I started doing it and it made people really upset because they were like what if we need those. The most recent acquisition we've done we've done virtually nothing six months in — we've just been hey just keep it stable and then I think after about a year you've earned that ability to start making real improvements.

The thing that keeps me up at night is not hey am I going to be able to retire comfortably — it's hey are my employees going to be able to do a lot of that.

We have a term that I think we've stolen I think Amazon uses this called disagree and proceed. We will disagree more often than not actually on how to approach certain things but once we proceed we never question it.