VARGO® Sells to Employee Stock Ownership Plan, Becomes 100% Employee-Owned
Lazear Capital Partners is pleased to announce that Vargo, Inc. (“VARGO®” or the “Company”) has become a fully employee-owned business by selling to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with locations in California, Michigan Texas and Ohio, VARGO® is a nationally recognized warehouse systems integrator with strong design and engineering capabilities, providing highly customized, material handling systems to the high-volume, e-commerce fulfilment industry. In addition, Vargo© also offers a cutting-edge and market leading Warehouse Execution System software package called COFE®. COFE® is a the first and most advanced waveless system available today. Lazear Capital Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor on the ESOP transaction.
Founded in 1971 by Julius and Mary Ann Vargo as a sales and service organization, VARGO® has evolved into so much more. Much of the Company's success is generated by a culture of innovation including becoming the first company to offer a continuous flow, or waveless system (COFE®). The Company’s history is intricately woven with the history of waveless fulfillment processing.
VARGO® has celebrated 50 years of growth and success under two generations of the Vargo family. Second generation owner-seller, Michael Vargo, felt that it was extremely important to create a succession plan that protected this spirit of innovation and excellence while rewarding a long-tenured and experienced workforce, including some individuals that have been with the Company for over 30 years.
"As I considered the options in succession planning, it immediately became clear that an ESOP would provide both a compelling value and integrate incredibly well with my estate and financial planning goals. In addition, being able to reward the team that helped us become the industry leader we are today only made sense. After all, these are the employees that deliver every day on VARGO®’s Core Principles, one of which is 'Leave them Impressed'. They are the reason we will continue to deliver on this promise year over year as they become employee-owners."
With respect to the process, Mr. Vargo noted, “It was a fantastic experience to work with the ESOP professionals at Lazear who walked me through what initially appeared to me to be a very complicated and confusing process. They built an incredible team around me to drive this sale and transition to a successful closing, delivering on all that they had promised. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome on so many levels.”
As VARGO® transitions to become 100% employee-owned, the future is promising. Michael Vargo and the entire leadership team will continue to lead VARGO® into the future of fulfillment solutions with a business built on lasting relationships and commitment to delivering for their clients. Lazear Capital Partners congratulates Michael Vargo as well as the entire VARGO® team on their successful ESOP transaction.
About VARGO®
VARGO® is a material handling solutions company, powered by a team of fulfillment and distribution center specialists with expertise in warehouse execution systems, integration, and material handling equipment. For more than five decades, we have been working with retailers, manufacturers, wholesale, and e-commerce distributors to improve material handling operations and maximize resource utilization.
Learn more about VARGO®: https://vargosolutions.com/