Retailer and utility partnerships
Agreements with the retailers and utilities that sell or bill your plans: term, exclusivity, change-of-control terms and partner concentration.
Special focus · Warranty & protection plans
Sell your warranty or protection plan company
Home warranties, appliance, electronics and furniture protection plans, and retailer programs
Oak Stream Partners is a private investment firm that acquires and invests in protection plan administrators, home warranty companies and extended warranty companies with roughly $1–15 million of EBITDA.
Why the buyer matters
A buyer who understands protection plans and how they are sold
Customers pay up front for coverage that runs for years, or monthly through a retailer or utility bill, and results turn on attachment, claims and reserves. Whether you are thinking “I want to sell my home warranty company” or own an appliance and electronics service contracts business, selling your business goes better with a buyer who speaks the language.
Ryan Addis, Oak Stream’s founder, has been Chairman and CEO of SCJ Insurance Services, a national MGA; President and COO of DeepFuse.com, a 45-state insurtech agency; a consultant to Jupiter MGA, where he placed a $30 million quota-share reinsurance program; and an operating partner at ScaleCo, a private equity firm with an insurance focus. Pricing, claims controls and reinsurance are familiar ground.
Warranty and protection plans are a special focus for Oak Stream, alongside insurance, within a broader lower-middle-market mandate across North America.
What we look for
Warranty and protection plan businesses
- Consumer product protection plans for appliances and electronics
- Furniture protection plan programs
- Damaged-inventory and retailer programs covering damaged or defective goods
- Home warranty companies and utility home warranty programs: water and sewer line, HVAC and appliance repair plans
- Protection plan administrators, warranty TPAs and repair networks
- Roughly $1–15M of EBITDA, headquartered in the U.S., Canada or Mexico
Preparing to sell
What buyers look at when you sell a protection plan company
Ryan and our capital partners look at these areas first. Preparing them early protects your price and timeline.
Attachment rates and renewals
How often a plan attaches to an appliance, electronics or furniture sale and, for home warranty and utility programs, renewals and cancellations in subscription billing.
Claims cost and repair networks
Claims frequency and severity by product line, repair-versus-replace decisions and the cost and quality of your technician networks.
Deferred revenue and reserves
How revenue is earned over each contract’s life, how much is deferred and how reserves have compared with actual claims.
Obligor and insurer backing
Who carries the obligation to the plan holder, and whether it is insured, reinsured or funded through trust or escrow.
State regulation and systems
Service-contract and home warranty rules that vary by state, required registrations and filings, and complaint history. See M&A considerations in insurance and warranty.
Process
How selling your protection plan company to Oak Stream works
Oak Stream invests deal by deal alongside capital partners rather than from a single committed fund, so the capital is matched to your company.
Confidential conversation
We learn about your company, your programs and what you want from a transaction, under an NDA if you prefer.
Letter of intent
After a preliminary review, Oak Stream signs an LOI covering price, structure and timing.
Capital partners
Ryan brings the opportunity to the capital partners best suited to it: search fund investors for roughly $1–5M of EBITDA and private equity firms for roughly $3–15M. They typically replace our LOI with their own.
Focused diligence
Financial, claims, legal and operational review, coordinated so your team can keep serving partners and plan holders.
Close and build
A planned transition and a value-creation plan built with your team.
More than one capital partner may be interested in a given company, but interest is not a commitment and no transaction is certain to close. We will be candid with you at each step.
Capital partners
Capital matched to the size of your company
Tier 1 Search fund investors
~$1–5M
Tier 2 Private equity firms
~$3–15M
Company EBITDA, approximate. Where the ranges overlap, around $3–5M, either type of capital can fit, and some deals may draw on both.
Tier 1 · Search fund investors
~$1–5M EBITDA
For lower-middle-market companies, we invest alongside an established network of search fund investors and operators: founders and executives behind companies such as Asurion and Oracle, and funds dedicated to the search fund model.
Meet the investor networkTier 2 · Private equity firms
~$3–15M EBITDA
For larger companies, we invest alongside institutional private equity firms, which gives us the capacity for larger transactions and follow-on acquisitions.
How our capital worksMore than a sale as-is
A plan for what your company can become
Investment bankers typically sell a protection plan company as it is. We bring a strategic plan, operating fixes in pricing, attachment, claims and repair-network costs, and, where it fits, add-on acquisitions of complementary administrators or programs.
That plan, together with Ryan’s experience, vision and relationships, shapes how capital partners see the opportunity. An LOI with Oak Stream has more than one potential source of equity behind it rather than depending on a single firm.
FAQ
Questions owners ask
What kinds of warranty and protection plan companies do you buy?
Mainly appliance and electronics protection plans, furniture protection plans, retailer damaged-inventory programs, home warranties and utility home warranty programs, plus the administrators that serve them. Vehicle service contracts are a smaller part of what we see.
How is a protection plan or home warranty company valued?
Buyers start with adjusted EBITDA, but deferred revenue, reserves and obligor backing can move both earnings and the debt-like items that affect price. We walk you through how we reach our number.
I want to sell my home warranty company. How do utility and retail partners fit in?
Those agreements are often central to value, so we review them early. Every conversation is confidential, and we plan with you when to approach partners, insurers and key staff, usually after a letter of intent.
What size companies does Oak Stream buy?
Generally companies with roughly $1–15 million of EBITDA. Search fund investors typically back companies of about $1–5 million of EBITDA, and private equity firms about $3–15 million.
Can I keep a stake or stay involved?
Yes, if you want to. Retained equity, majority recapitalizations, management buyouts and phased transitions are all possible, as is a full exit.
Confidential conversation
Thinking about selling your warranty or protection plan company?
Start with a confidential conversation. Call or email, and you will speak directly with Ryan Addis about your company, your programs, your goals and whether there is a fit.
- Call(478) 276-4431
- Emailacquisitions
@oakstreampartners.com - Office hoursMonday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM Central