Business Description:
True Home Value, LLC owned the majority of the stock inTrue Home Value, Inc.

Formerly known as ThermoView Industries, Inc., True Home Value, Inc. is the fourth largest Home Improvement company in the U.S. with $65 million in sales.  The Company primarily sells and installs vinyl replacement windows, but also vinyl siding, replacement doors, textured coating for stucco homes, cabinet refacings, gutter replacements and patio decks and enclosures.

Transaction Background:
True Home Value is composed of six operating subsidiaries and one manufacturing facility that were part of a 1999 "poof IPO roll-up."  The companies were never integrated and continued to operate autonomously, as there were no economies of scale inherent in the model and no realizable synergies from operating under one corporate umbrella.  The founders left over time and the businesses declined almost immediately.  As a result, the Company was over-leveraged with debt used to create the poof IPO.  Milestone was the stalking horse (and subsequent winner) in a 363 bankruptcy sale and provided a debtor-in-possession (DIP) loan to the Company during the bankruptcy process.

Investment Thesis:
Milestone believes there are limited economies of scale in the replacement window and home improvement business.  The divisions were all well-managed and did not need significant corporate oversight or back office support.  Our strategy is to eliminate the debt in the bankruptcy, and then to de-consolidate the entities, returning them to their local roots, eliminating the redundant corporate overhead, and growing the local businesses autonomously.