One of Charlotte’s best-known homegrown companies is being sold. AvidXchange was formed in 2000 and, as of the end of last year, had over 1,600 employees. For more on the sale, and other business stories of the week, I’m joined now by Tony Mecia, of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter, for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: AvidXchange is a name many people in Charlotte, I’m sure, recognize. But how did they become one of Charlotte's rare unicorns, or a billion-dollar startup?
Tony Mecia: Yes, Marshall. It is a recognizable name. You've probably seen it, for example, on the AvidXchange Music Factory, which is near AvidXchange's headquarters near uptown. It's a financial technology company that automates invoices for medium-sized businesses. This is a tech company that started in 2000, basically with two guys meeting at Anderson's restaurant in Elizabeth. It was an old-time restaurant where powerbrokers exchange ideas — no longer around. But they just built it up over the years, took it public and now it's being sold to a couple of private companies.
Terry: So what are the plans?
Mecia: This week, two companies, TPG, which is the private equity company, and Corpay, which is a payments company, announced that they were buying AvidXchange in a deal that values the company at $2.2 billion. By taking a company private, you have a little bit more flexibility — maybe you have a little bit more money to invest and grow. And I think the idea would be to incorporate AvidXchange with Corpay, which is a much larger payments company. Maybe you can do some things that you couldn't if you're on your own.
Terry: All right. Well, let's move on to the sale of an uptown office building for far less than its most recently assessed value. Which one? And what are the plans there?
Mecia: Yes. This is an office building at 525 North Tryon, which is called 525 North Tryon. It sold last week for $24 million to Highland Ventures, of Tennessee, according to the Charlotte Business Journal. Now that is about a quarter of the building's assessed value. It was valued in the most recent property tax revaluation at $97.2 million. So we're seeing this trend uptown of these older office buildings selling for a quarter or a third, in some cases, of their assessed value — which is very unusual. But we've seen that play out several times in several other office buildings uptown. This is happening around the country as companies try to adjust to the realities of remote work. And you have a stock of older office buildings, when a lot of companies that want to move somewhere want to move into newer office buildings.
Terry: So I guess now is a good time to buy if you're in the market for an office tower?
Mecia: Yes, if you can rub some nickels together. Part of the thinking is also that now by buying these at a low price, maybe the buyer sees a way to renovate them, get some more tenants in, do some things that maybe the previous buyer didn't really have the option to because they were carrying so much debt.
Terry: Let's end on beer this week. I know breweries like to cash in on holidays like Memorial Day. But what about Meck Dec Day, which is nearly upon us, Tony? And lest listeners think we're making this up, can you just briefly explain what Meck Dec is?
Mecia: Yes. Meck Dec Day in Mecklenburg County is May 20 every year. This year it is the 250th anniversary of the "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence," which is a signing of a declaration of independence a year before the national Declaration of Independence that we all know from Philadelphia. Some people believe it happened, some people believe it didn't. But what's happening now is that we have a bunch of breweries in Charlotte that are creating Meck Dec-themed beers. Lost Worlds has put together a MecDec Honey Ale, Town Brewing [has] First in Freedom lager and Olde Mecklenburg has a Giddy Up pilsner. So there are ways to celebrate with this big anniversary coming up on the horizon, Marshall.
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