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EFA Partners Serves as Exclusive Sell-Side Advisor to Autobahn Indoor Speedway for the Sale of the Company to K1 Speed

January 10, 2024

New York, NY (January 10, 2024) – EFA Partners, a boutique financial advisory firm that arranges capital and provides strategic consulting services for entertainment and media companies, announced today that it served as the exclusive sell-side financial advisor for Autobahn Indoor Speedway for the recently completed sale of the company’s 11 karting-themed entertainment venues to K1 Speed, the world's largest indoor go-kart racing operator now with 83 locations in seven different countries and 29 states. The acquisition expanded K1 Speed’s presence into four additional states: Maryland, New York, Wisconsin and Alabama.

Founded in 2012 with its first venue in Jessup, Maryland, Autobahn grew to eleven karting venues throughout the U.S., making it the second largest U.S. chain of indoor karting facilities. The company’s venues offer a premier racing experience to hundreds of thousands of racers every year. From professional racers to novices out to try something new, the venues offer a fast-paced thrill that is exciting for all demographics.

EFA Partners has been Autobahn’s financial advisor since 2018. EFA previously led the effort to arrange the company’s senior debt financing which refinanced its existing debt and also provided growth capital that the company used to upgrade certain venues.

“It has been a pleasure working with Ralph Willis and the EFA team for the past several years,” said Michael Greene, CFO and a founding principal of Autobahn who will assist with transitioning the business. “EFA was previously our advisor and successfully arranged our senior debt. Their understanding of the leisure sector and their industry relationships made them the logical choice to lead our sale effort which culminated in closing the sale to K1.”

EFA’s principals have over 50 years of collective experience in providing financing solutions for film exhibitors and companies in related sectors. They have deep relationships across the move theater industry and also with providers of capital for the industry. The EFA team prides itself on handling its clients’ financing processes from start to finish. For Autobahn, they garnered interest from a targeted list of prospective acquirers, completed comprehensive materials to highlight the business, participated in all phases of negotiations, and assisted with reviewing closing documentation.

“We have had a great relationship with Mike Greene and the ownership team at Autobahn for several years and we appreciated the opportunity to lead their sale process,” said Ralph Willis, Managing Partner and a founding principal of EFA Partners. “They developed and built an excellent platform of karting venues which will be a great fit to expand the K1 footprint within the U.S.”

About EFA Partners

EFA Partners is a boutique financial advisory firm with offices in New York and Atlanta focused on entertainment, media, and technology companies. It provides investment banking services focused on arranging growth capital, mergers and acquisitions, and financial consulting. In entertainment, its targeted sectors include family entertainment centers, movie theaters, theme parks, water parks, concert venues, hotels, casinos, sports, and others. In media and technology, EFA focuses on companies in film/television post-production, film/television distribution, communications services, recorded music, music publishing, and others. Since its inception in 2009, EFA has been retained by over 200 clients, has arranged $1.7 billion of capital, and has advised on $3.7 billion of additional capital.

About K1 Speed

Founded in 2003, K1 Speed is the world's largest indoor electric kart racing operator, with 83 locations in seven different countries and 29 states. K1 Speed is a unique upscale entertainment concept for casual consumers, racing enthusiasts, and corporate or group events.  B. Riley Securities was K1’s advisor for the Autobahn transaction.

About Autobahn Indoor Speedway

Autobahn Indoor Speedway, founded in 2012, grew to become the largest 2nd largest karting chain in the U.S. with 11 venues. The company’s platform includes venues in Jacksonville, FL, Memphis, TN; the Washington, DC area (Dulles, VA and Manassas, VA); the Baltimore, MD area (Jessup, MD and White Marsh, MD); Harrisburg, PA, Mokena, IL, Nyack, NY, Birmingham, AL, and Milwaukee, WI.

Leading provider of digital media services for film and television

Background: A seasoned management team who had previously worked with EFA while at their previous companies, formed a new film and television digital media services company and approached EFA to arrange financing for potential acquisition targets.

EFA Process: The company retained EFA to arrange acquisition financing.  EFA ran the process including creating presentation materials and then approaching several banks and specialty lenders.

Result: Three closings including two financings to support two acquisitions and financing to provide working capital.

start quoteWe selected EFA as our advisor due to their financial experience specific to the film and television services sector. The past year has been tremendous for us as we significantly grew our business with EFA arranging financing that allowed us to execute on our growth plans very quickly. end quote

John Suh
Co-Founder and Co-President of  Pixelogic

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                                                      Top ten film exhibitor in the U.S. based on screen count with 16 theaters across the Midwest

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing, to refinance existing debt, and for growth of the business. Also engaged EFA to arrange a sale of the business.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for all three assignments including preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, approached several banks, specialty lenders, and REITs. For the sale process, approached strategic film exhibitors, private equity groups, and family offices.

Result: Three closings including a debt facility to refinance all existing senior debt, another debt facility to refinance existing debt as well as provide additional funds to acquire real estate at certain theaters, and then arranged the sale of operations to Kinepolis, a Belgium-based film exhibitor expanding its U.S. platform. 

start quoteThe EFA team has been our trusted financial advisor for the past several years. They have assisted us for a variety of assignments over the years including the refinancing of our debt, reviewing acquisition opportunities, and now the sale of our operations which, when closed, will provide an excellent outcome for our investors.end quote

Paul Glantz
Chairman of Emagine

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2nd largest U.S. operator of karting-based entertainment venues with 11 venues in the East and Midwest

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing to refinance existing debt and for growth of the business. Also engaged EFA to arrange a sale of the business.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for both assignments which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, equipment financiers, and REITs. For the sale process, EFA approached strategic entertainment companies, private equity groups, and family offices.

Result: Three closings including a debt facility to refinance all existing senior debt and to provide growth capital which the company utilized to renovate and expand certain sites. Then arranged the sale of operations to K1 Speed, the largest U.S. operator of karting-based entertainment venues. K1 subsequently also acquired the real estate at one venue.

start quoteIt has been a pleasure working with Ralph Willis and the EFA team for the past several years. EFA was previously our advisor and successfully arranged our senior debt. Their understanding of the leisure sector and their industry relationships made them the logical choice to lead our sale effort which culminated in closing the sale to K1. end quote

Michael Greene
CFO and founding principal of Autobahn

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Television and motion picture post-production and digital content management services

Background: Company approached EFA seeking refinancing of its debt subsequent to other advisors attempting to do so with a combination of senior debt and equity.

EFA Process: After reviewing its capital structure EFA recommended a debt structure to fully refinance the company's debt.

Result: Closed senior debt facility that refinanced the company's existing debt, which was much more cost-effective than equity.

start quoteThe EFA team proposed a creative strategy to recapitalize Modern VideoFilm that met our needs in a way that was unique and different from what other financial advisory firms proposed to us. We appreciated their understanding of the entertainment industry and EFA's extensive financial relationships and we look forward to continuing our relationship. end quote

Moshe Barkat,
CEO and President of Modern VideoFilm

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                                                                              Operator of dine-in cinemas across the U.S.

Background: EFA has been engaged by Alamo corporate and several franchisees over several years for various assignments. These included  arranging construction financing for new venues and running the sale process for various theaters.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for several assignments which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, and equipment financiers. For the sale process, EFA approached strategic entertainment companies and private equity groups.

Result: Arranged construction and equipment financing for theaters in Texas, Colorado, and New York. In addition, served as sell-side advisor for two different franchisees and arranged the sale of seven theaters to two different film exhibitors.

start quoteEFA Partners and our team worked uniformly every step of the way to arrange a comprehensive financing solution that delivers greater financial flexibility to our two existing venues while also providing the necessary capital to build our newest Denver location. Brandt Gully, Ralph Willis and the EFA team have a deep understanding of the film exhibition industry and have proven to be reliable long-term partners as we continue pursuing our goals for sustained long-term growth.end quote

Dave Kennedy
Partner at Alamo Drafthouse

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 Waterpark in Houston owned by WP Ventures 

 

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing to refinance existing debt and to finance a new attracion at the venue.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the process. EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, and REITs. 

Result: Arranged the financing with a bank at a very attractive rate that provided funding to refinance all exisiting senior debt and to provide funds for a new children's waterpark area.

start quoteIt was great working with Ralph Willis and the EFA team as they led our process to arrange financing. Their many years of experience in the leisure sector, plus their extensive relationships with financiers, allowed them to convey the highlights of our park and garnered interest from several financial groups. That provided for a competitive process to negotiate favorable financing terms to meet our financing needs. end quote

Terry Hlavinka
Partner at WP Ventures

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Television industry management group formed to manage and operate US TV stations

Background: Huntington approached EFA seeking capital for potential television station acquisitions.

EFA Process: EFA understood that private equity firms and lenders are seeking experienced management teams to back for acquisition opportunities in the television sector.

Result: EFA has introduced the company to several private equity firms as well as senior lenders, resulting in bids for groups of television stations and the company continues to seek other opportunities, with EFA’s assistance.

start quoteWe are acutely aware of the trends that are transforming the local broadcast TV business and have recently begun to explore opportunities to acquire stations. We are very excited about the prospects for the industry and the opportunities to capitalize upon. We are also pleased to have EFA Partners as our financial advisor as their many years of media industry experience and extensive financial relationships will help us accomplish our goal of building a best-in-class station group.

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David Tynan,
CEO of Huntington Broadcast Management Group

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