We’re continuing our new member series on CVCA Central; profiling our new members and providing insight on these invaluable organizations in our community.
The latest new member we are excited to profile is Hilco Global.
Hilco Global is a privately held diversified financial services company focused on maximizing the value of assets for both healthy and distressed companies. Hilco Global operates as a holding company comprised of over twenty specialized business units that work to help companies understand the value of their assets and then maximize the value through various monetization strategies. Hilco Global works to deliver the best possible result by aligning interests with clients and providing them strategic insight, advice, and the capital required to complete the deal. Hilco Global is based in Northbrook, Illinois and has 625 professionals operating on five continents, with offices including in Toronto.
We caught up with John Sharpe, Executive Vice President, Hilco Commercial Industrial Canada to find out more about the organization.
Tell us about Hilco Global, its history and vision
In 1987, Chicago native Jeffrey B. Hecktman founded Hilco after successfully advising a family business in transition. Soon after Hilco started, the company began handling industrial, retail and wholesale valuation and disposition deals and completing joint ventures, often partnering with other companies having different core competencies.
Throughout the nineties and into the next decade, Hilco added new business lines, each led by an experienced executive with proven expertise and core values that perfectly fit into the Hilco corporate culture. The formula was applied successfully in each case: allow the executives to run their business and share in the ownership to ensure a financially aligned leadership team.
Today, more than two dozen executives lead the holding company and its 20-plus business units. They have amassed an impressive record of achievement. Among them, Hilco Global has conducted thousands of industrial sales, converted billions of dollars of retail inventory into cash, valued hundreds of billions of dollars worth of inventory, machinery and equipment, real estate, accounts receivable, IP and enterprise valuations, restructured more than 30,000 leases and acquired or sold hundreds of millions of square feet of retail, commercial, industrial, and residential real estate. Hilco has also invested in more than 25 companies, acquired, and revitalized a dozen iconic brands, often acquiring these assets to provide their former owners with much-needed liquidity.
The company is now truly global and maintains offices and conducts business on five continents in more than 53 countries. As John Sharpe, EVP Hilco Commercial Industrial, explains, “The real secret to our success is being a company with integrity, aligned interests and a passion for success. “The company focuses on developing custom solutions for its clients as it relates to valuation, monetization and advisory services.
Hilco Global continues to evolve to the needs of the market and looks for new ways to add incremental value to its clients. One of the more interesting areas where the company is expanding is with its Hilco Commercial Industrial operating company. Using the power of the Hilco platform, this operating company is solving complicated business challenges its clients face. Some of the recent successes includes the work they did with Shop-Vac and Element Fleet Capital.
Tell us about some of the services Hilco Global offers
Hilco Global offers a comprehensive suite of services aimed at valuing and monetizing all assets on the balance sheet.
We are a buyer and seller of assets, a principal and operator of strategic businesses and brand investments, an advisor on assets to businesses and their constituents, and an independent valuator of assets. We are experienced in virtually all tangible and intangible asset categories and able to handle both domestic and cross-border assignments.
Through a group of specialized advisory business units and highly experienced professionals, Hlico teams with businesses and their constituents develop and implement innovative, often outside-the-box strategies that leverage existing assets to create more profit, reduce costs and enhance enterprise value.
What is Hilco Global excited about (in the immediate horizon and in the long run)?
We are excited about the expansion and revitalization of the Hilco Commercial Industrial (HCI) platform which merges strengths from our Valuation, Advisory, and Monetization practices to create a next-level service for our customers. We’ve added new capabilities to provide creative and customized solutions to fit every situation.
This platform expansion also enables us to enter special situations upstream and to pursue opportunities earlier in their life cycle, where previously we were able to enter opportunities that are already heavily distressed and headed toward liquidation.
Tell us about Hilco’s involvement in the community
“Hilco Helps” serves as a Hilco Global worldwide initiative to support causes and not-for-profit organizations that help enhance the lives and maximize the potential of the world’s most important assets: Human Assets.
Through many Hilco Helps programs, Hilco works to improve the lives of those in need (often children) in communities that are under served and require assistance to maximize their full potential.
Hilco Helps provides millions of dollars of support (through in-kind donations, direct donations, and marketing efforts/sponsorship) to non-profit groups doing outstanding work. In addition to direct financial support, the company’s employees donate time to relief efforts in disaster zones, including as of recent a substantial donation to relief efforts in the Ukraine, churches, schools, and more across North America, and offers internship opportunities to mentor and engage young people around the world.
