Keeping it Within the Business Family

Not every company has the option of passing on their business to a family member. While many of Regina’s mid-market companies are in their third or fourth generation of family ownership, Saskatchewan’s booming economy is putting a lot of offers on the table for thriving mid-market players.

In many cases, management buyouts are the transition plan of choice.

JoeAnne Hardy, president, and Brett Bailey, vice-president of WBM Office Systems Ltd. in Saskatoon, are part of a four-member management team that completed the buyout of their IT services company in 2008. But this wasn’t the first time for WBM. “When I came here the business was owned by a team that had taken over from the original group in the early 1980s,” Hardy says.

Having to move more quickly was daunting, Bailey says. “We took the approach that we needed to surround ourselves with experts that could take us through the steps. Roynat was a big part of that because we were able to articulate to them our vision and how we wanted the buyout to happen.”