Apis & Heritage Capital Partners Converts Denver-Based Sky Blue Builders to Employee Ownership via New Employee-Led Buyout (ELBO©)
Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H), an investment fund that finances the conversion of companies with substantial workforces of color into 100% employee-owned businesses, today announced it has converted construction firm Sky Blue Builders ("Sky Blue") into an employee-owned business, creating shared ownership for over 40 employees. Based in Denver, Sky Blue has a highly diverse senior management team and employs a significant number of low-income workers of color to provide essential construction and contracting services.
"Sky Blue is poised for substantial growth, and we're thrilled to help their loyal and hardworking employees claim a fairer share of the immense value they create," said Phil Reeves, cofounder and managing partner of A&H. "With this employee-led buyout, we hope to continue to exemplify how closing the racial wealth gap can boost revenues and profitability."
Sky Blue Builders CEO Mowa Haile, also the CEO of A&H portfolio company Apex Underground, said, "Every member of our Sky Blue team is so deserving of this enormous opportunity, and I am incredibly proud of their work on some of the largest transit contracts in Colorado. As a Black entrepreneur and business leader, I couldn't be prouder to support economic mobility for all of our workers while preserving the legacy and growth of the business. In A&H, we have found the right partner to steward their livelihoods with care as we build a stronger, safer, more connected Colorado."
"This innovative company has done so much to help build Denver ? now they are helping build wealth for their employees," said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. "We know Sky Blue will be a model for many more employers to follow in making our city a national leader in employee ownership."
"Colorado is a great state for employee ownership," added A&H partner Michael Brownrigg. "This is our second Colorado employee-led buyout, co-financed in this case by VectraBank of Colorado, which was facilitated by the State of Colorado's innovative cash collateral program. Other states should pay attention ? Colorado is leading the way in programming to support broad based wealth creation for regular working people."
About Apis & Heritage
Apis & Heritage Capital uses a novel "employee-led buyout" (ELBO©) structure to provide workers in essential industries with the most powerful wealth building tool in the nation: equity in a thriving business. A&H finances the acquisition of great companies from retiring owners/founders and converts them into 100% employee-owned enterprises. Because A&H is dedicated to closing the racial wealth gap, it searches for companies that have large workforces of color, and low- and moderate-income workers generally, so that the benefits of ownership will be broadly realized. A&H's ELBO© structure utilizes an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) model for employee ownership, which has over 50 years of bipartisan political and regulatory support.
A&H works with some of America's most forward-thinking lending institutions to provide senior loans as part of each ELBO© transaction. A&H and its workforce training partner, the nonprofit Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI), build an ownership culture in each company that ensures all employee-owners, from management to the shop floor, are engaged in a common endeavor to create healthy, growing, profitable, and satisfying places to work over the long term. A&H, which is minority-owned, was incubated at DAWI with seed funding provided by the Kendeda Fund, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and support from Citi Community Development. A&H is advised on its ELBO transactions by SES ESOP Strategies, a Stevens and Lee Company.
About Sky Blue Builders
Sky Blue is a General Contractor that focuses on large, complicated federal and municipal construction projects. Sky Blue took over the Great Hall renovation project at Denver Airport when it was struggling and righted the ship. It has been involved in numerous other phases at DEN, including escalator installation, baggage handling, and most recently the new Center for Equity and Excellence in Aviation, which is Denver Airport's effort to expand the talent base in all sectors of aviation. Sky Blue has also been a key development partner for the City of Denver, most notably for the new bus station expansions to accommodate new mass transit options for residents and visitors. Sky Blue's founder, Mowa Haile, was a refugee who came to the USA with a vision to build his own company. He formed Sky Blue Builders on the foundation of his passion for people, the ability to persevere, and a keen eye for innovative solutions.
News published on and distributed by:
