4Wall Entertainment recently reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Boston-based stage and theatrical lighting services provider, Advanced Lighting & Production Services (ALPS). ALPS’ current location in Canton, MA will be rebranded as 4Wall Boston and will be an important platform for 4Wall’s growth on the East Coast in the theatrical and corporate event markets, while continuing to seamlessly service the current ALPS customer base.
4Wall intends to add video equipment and services to 4Wall Boston within the year, giving the clients in that market access to more than just lighting products and services. Recently, PLSN spoke with Wes Bailey, 4Wall VP of M&A and Product Strategy about this acquisition as well as the company’s continuing plans for growth.
“Our main focus, and this goes for a number of our other acquisitions, is that we’re not a company that’s looking to buy something and then cut costs,” says Bailey. “What we are looking to do is find platforms in different geographies and market segments that we can build on. Last year, in the case of Wagner Media, it was finding a platform in video that we could build on. Since we bought Wagner, we’ve taken their products and we’re adding it to all of our other locations. In fact, we also plan to add video to 4Wall Boston.”
He continues, “In the case of acquiring ALPS, we wanted to be in Boston. Our New York location has traditionally done business in Boston, but it’s complicated due to the trucking, logistics, etc. Rather than buying a warehouse, putting equipment there, and being a competitor with the companies that are already in Boston, we always prefer to take this approach. ALPS has great people and the ALPS name is synonymous with quality in the northeast. We are proud to add Steve and the entire team to the 4Wall family, and we look forward to helping them grow what was already a successful business into an even bigger and better 4Wall Boston.”
ALPS has provided entertainment lighting equipment and event solutions for over 30 years, and the company’s business model synchs perfectly with 4Wall, with a focus on providing rentals, support for live event services, sales, and systems integration. 4Wall will retain the company’s highly accomplished and seasoned staff with current ALPS Founder and President Steven Way assuming the title of General Manager of 4Wall Boston. Industry veteran and long-time ALPS Vice President of Events Dan Clawson will also remain onboard as the Director of Events for 4Wall Boston.
As to what were the appealing aspects about ALPS that made it the right acquisition for 4Wall, Bailey notes, “There were a couple of things that made us really take a long look at ALPS. The first thing is you have a very stable, very mature, and very business-savvy owner in Steve Way. He is well-respected in the industry, obviously has good relationships with people that are within the industry, and then also on the customer-side in different organizations. He’s a great brand representative for us. It also started with their reputation. We knew how good they were directly having worked with them via sub-rental in Boston in the past. I’ve heard for the past three or four years from my New York guys, ‘if we ever buy something in Boston, we want to buy ALPS’. That was because they knew that it was a quality operation up there. As we went through the due diligence work we saw that some of their gear was older, but it was super well-maintained. You could tell that the people there really cared, and if you can start with a team that cares, we can provide the rest.”
It is that respect for the company being acquired that Bailey feels makes the 4Wall approach to growth through acquisition one that works. It is about building upon the strengths of the acquired company not about dismantling them. “In our industry there are at times negative connotations to the idea of acquisition,” says Bailey. “The consensus in the industry is that as soon as a company starts buying other companies that it inevitably is going to turn into an unwieldly monster. I think we’ve learned a lot at 4Wall from watching other companies and are careful about how we handle acquisitions so that we aren’t taking the ‘good’ out of a company. If you buy a company and then you don’t listen to some of the good things that they do, then why did you buy the company at the end of the day? We think that there’s a way to do acquisitions that leaves the ownership and the employees in a better position moving forward. A lot of the original owners from our previous acquisitions are part of our management team and have high profile roles in the company. They have a seat at the table with us in the decision-making process. And I think that’s very different from how it’s been done before. That’s what we’re really trying to do, find people that we can add as talent to the 4Wall team. That’s just as important as adding equipment or customers.”
If there’s a message that 4Wall would like the industry to know, it’s that they are trying to grow in ways that make sense. “There’s no end game to say we have to be in X amount of locations or work to a certain size from a revenue standpoint,” says Bailey. Right now, we want to be a great lighting and video company that has a very integrated product offering. When it comes to acquisitions, we want each new location to continue to deal with its customers in the best way possible, but with more support. Basically, we want the customer to keep having the same local experience they have always had, just with a national company behind it. It is important to us that we still take care of those local markets and the events that happen in their own backyards.”
That approach will be to the advantage of current ALPS customers as they will still be working with the same friendly staff they have grown to appreciate, while adding the nationwide backing of 4Wall’s lighting, video, and rigging inventory and expertise as well.
When announcing the acquisition of ALPS’ assets in late April, 4Wall also noted that it would retain the company’s staff. Along with Steven Way assuming the title of general manager of 4Wall Boston, industry veteran and long-time ALPS Vice President of Events Dan Clawson will also remain onboard as the Director of Events for 4Wall Boston.
“I have always had a great respect for the 4Wall culture of caring about their customers, as it aligned nicely with the ALPS model,” said Way. “I am excited about the opportunities created from combining our resources and the ability to serve our customers even better. Boston just got brighter!”
Steven Way can be reached at sway@4wall.com
Dan Clawson can be reached at dclawson@4wall.com.
Wes Bailey can be reached at wbailey@4wall.com.
For more information on 4Wall, go to www.4wall.com.
