Westbridge Capital Ltd., through its subsidiary, Overture Promotions, Inc., has closed its acquisition of Waukegan, Illinois, distributor Overture Promotions (PPAI 288541, D11). A team led by Lou Weisbach, the former CEO of what is now distributor HALO Branded Solutions, and JoAnn Gilley, Overture’s CEO, plan on building the distributor out into a global branding company. Overture has reported a 2020 revenue of $127 million, up from $82 million in 2019.
Weisbach founded what was then known as HA-LO in 1972, although he is no longer affiliated with the company and it is not involved in the Overture Promotions acquisition. Since then, he has been involved in several other initiatives. JoAnn Gilley was an original investor in Overture and has been its CEO for three and a half years, leading the company to 300-percent revenue growth during that time.
“Overture’s strong management team responded well to the challenges and changing business environment in 2020 and achieved significant growth in its client base and revenue,” says Weisbach. “After looking at many potential acquisitions, we decided Overture would make an excellent platform company to serve as our foundation.”
Weisbach adds, “Our vision is to create the premier international branding company to help organizations build global brands with best-in-class marketing, licensing and promotional products. Our growth plan will be driven by both organic and strategic acquisition opportunities. We will be aggressive, yet selective, in acquiring companies in the coming months that not only build upon the Overture Promotions platform but add products and services.”
Weisbach’s team includes Gilley, Michael Nemlich and Mark Serdar. Nemlich, an investment banker covering the health care, consumer and business service sectors, was responsible for taking HA-LO public. Shortly thereafter he joined the company, where he was involved in acquisitions, structuring of deals and strategic planning. He also served as vice president of investor relations and was responsible for all financial and marketing communications. Serdar was a managing director at JP Morgan Chase, where he held multiple senior positions, including chief technology officer and firm-wide head of globalization strategy. He was an executive vice president and CSO at Expert Global Solutions, a $1.3 billion business process outsourcing company. He also held management roles at Accenture and Ernst & Young’s Strategic Consulting Group.
“We are excited to team up with Westbridge Capital who shares our vision. The Overture team is excited to officially start this new adventure,” says Gilley. “We look forward to adding new services and technology to support our customers and scale our operations, and to welcome acquisitions to the Overture family.”
Sedar says, “Our objective is to leverage technology to completely differentiate ourselves in the market. We are delighted that we share a vision with Westbridge Capital to create and build exciting new technology solutions.”
Mike Meekins, president of Westbridge Capital, adds, “We are excited about teaming up with Lou and JoAnn and the rest of the Overture team to lead our growth in the highly fragmented promotional products industry. The industry is primed for consolidation, and we believe the acquisition of the business of Overture as a platform company is a fantastic start. We look forward to funding more acquisitions going forward.”
