Vero Beach, FL-based flowers and plants cataloger Calyx & Corolla is for sale. Its owner, investor group Equity Resource Partners, bought Calyx from now-defunct retail consolidator Gerald Stevens in early 2001.
“The group is seeking to move as quickly as possible to facilitate a buyer’s ability to capitalize on the upcoming holiday and Mother’s Day seasons,” says Jim Adams, managing director of Wellesley, MA-based investment bank Tully & Holland, which is advising Equity Resource Partners in the deal. The ideal candidate, Adams says, would be a strategic buyer, rather than a financial buyer, that could easily fold Calyx into its existing business.
Ruth Owades, the founder of the Gardeners Eden catalog, established Calyx in 1989, striking deals with growers around the country and with Federal Express to sell fresh flowers via catalog. Owades sold Calyx to Gerald Stevens in 1999. The company mails more than 6 million catalogs a year; the average order size is $90.