This Clayton private equity executive wanted to buy his own firm. Here's why he now owns a roofing company.

After nearly four years of working at Clayton-based private equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners, Stefan Sigurdson decided in December 2020 to chart his own path. 

He wanted to put his career experience in banking and private equity to use as a business owner, kicking off a year-and-a-half search to acquire a business, a process that wrapped up this summer with the purchase of a long-standing local company. Sigurdson in June closed on the acquisition of Ellisville-based Allen Roofing & Siding.

The entrepreneur says his hunt for a company mimicked that of a so-called search fund, which involves individuals turning their attention full time to finding a company to acquire and operate. Traditionally, search funds involve aspiring entrepreneurs seeking capital to fund their business search. The investors typically have the option to participate in an acquisition, if one occurs. 

While operating with the same “entrepreneurship through acquisition” approach of search funds, Sigurdson took a different path by self-funding his search. He says that decision gave him the ability to form relationships with a broad base of investors who could participate in a deal. 

“Once I found a deal, I had a lot more latitude in who I really sought capital from,” he said. 

By self-funding the search, Sigurdson said he also was able to take more of an individualistic and flexible approach to exploring his options, ensuring he found a business that was the right fit for him personally. He took an industry agnostic approach to the type of business he acquired.

“My approach was more geographic," he said. "I wanted to find something here in town (so) that I could leverage my network."

Sigurdson said he connected with Lee Allen, founder of Allen Roofing & Siding, through mutual friends, and was drawn to the business because of its 50-year history and reputation in the roofing industry. 

Founded in 1972, Allen Roofing & Siding has more than 100 employees and over $20 million in annual revenue. It provides services for homeowners as well as several local homebuilders. In addition to Ellisville, Allen Roofing also has locations in St. Peters and in Caseyville, Illinois.

In acquiring Allen Roofing, Sigurdson said he partnered with private investors, whom he declined to name. He worked with Enterprise Bank & Trust to finance the acquisition. 

Sigurdson has become CEO of the Allen Roofing & Siding LLC. Lee Allen will remain the company’s president, but will reduce his day-to-day responsibilities. 

“He’ll over time dial back the amount of hours he needs to be involved in the business, but he’s been doing this for 50 years, so I made sure he knew he has a home here for as long as he wants,” Sigurdson said. 

As owner, Sigurdson wants to build on the foundation built by Allen over the past 50 years while also pursuing additional growth for the business. 

“We will be looking for ways to grow in this (St. Louis) market and other markets organically and through acquisitions,” Sigurdson said. 

After his own successful search to buy a business, Sigurdson says his advice to others performing their own search-fund process is to make sure to know the attributes they want in a business and to remain true to them. 

“There’s a lot of businesses out there for sale and there’s a lot of competition. Sometimes there can be pressure to find a deal,” he said.

Sigurdson said there has been an uptick in resources for entrepreneurs like himself who are on the hunt to find a business to call their own, such as networking platform searchfunder.com 

"You can collaborate or ask questions about deals or frustrations that you run into when you’re negotiating a purchase agreement. It’s really a nice tool,” he said.

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