Goldner Hawn & Tonka Bay Announce Sale of Quest Events
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (January 8, 2019) — Goldner Hawn and Tonka Bay Equity Partners LLC (“Tonka Bay”) announced the sale of Quest Events (“Quest”) to TZP Group, a New York-based private equity firm. Based in Frisco, TX, Quest is the industry’s largest and only national provider of rental, service and logistics solutions for drapery and related environment-enhancing products serving the events industry. Goldner Hawn and Tonka Bay partnered with the Quest management team in 2015 to execute an aggressive organic growth and acquisition strategy.
Led by CEO Lee Dunlap and Operating Partner/CFO Mark Pasterik, Quest has experienced tremendous growth since 2015 including opening seven branch locations, one of which was its first international location, and increasing its portfolio of products. In addition, Quest acquired four strategic add-on acquisitions during this period, which further added to its breadth of products and increased its market share in existing geographies.
“Quest was a great investment and partnership for Goldner Hawn, Tonka Bay and the Quest management team,” said Jason Brass, Quest Chairman and Partner at Goldner Hawn. “During our ownership period Quest’s management team was able to accelerate its growth trajectory nearly doubling in size through new product offerings, international expansion and complementary acquisitions.”
“Quest has a market leading position, depth of products, and geographic reach providing its customers the best service and value proposition in the special events space,” said Steve Soderling, a Partner at Tonka Bay and Quest Board member. “It has been a pleasure working with Lee and the Quest management team. They have been great partners and are well-positioned to continue to leverage their market leading position to drive the next stage of their growth.”
“Goldner Hawn and Tonka Bay have been great capital partners, board members and allowed me and the management team to focus on running the business while supporting our desire to invest via acquisitions, new locations, inventory, and personnel,” added Lee Dunlap, “as a result, Quest has experienced rapid growth and is well-positioned to increase its global market share.”
About Quest Events
Headquartered in Frisco, Texas, Quest is a market leader in the rental, distribution, and logistics of drapery and related products serving the hotel, hospitality, and entertainment industries. Trusted in the events industry since 1998, Quest has a reputation of delivering quality with professional results. Quest arrives onsite ready to create a unique environment to set the tone for an unforgettable event with the customer’s vision in mind. For more information about Quest, please visit www.questevents.com.
About Goldner Hawn
Goldner Hawn was founded in 1989 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over the last thirty years Goldner Hawn has been a source of private capital to leading lower middle market companies with an investment philosophy centered on the principle of partnership. For more information, visit www.goldnerhawn.com.
About Tonka Bay Equity Partners
Based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Tonka Bay has been Building Bigger, Better Businesses® for over 25 years. Tonka Bay Equity Partners is a private equity firm that acquires and invests in growth-oriented businesses in the highly engineered manufacturing, business services and value-added distribution sectors. For more information, call (952) 345-2030 or visit tonkabayequity.com.