National Wine & Spirits deal launched serial investor

After selling a half-interest and operating control in liquor distributor National Wine & Spirits five years ago, Jim LaCrosse transformed into a serial investor.

One who wanted nothing to do with wine or spirits.

He has invested in a health-care software company, a foam products maker, a cellphone tower services company. In all, six diverse companies make up the growing portfolio of LaCrosse’s 3-year-old Indianapolis holding company, NWS Holdings.

About the only thing the companies have in common is LaCrosse and his money. While he won’t say how many millions he’s invested, there’s no doubt LaCrosse has become one of the most active business investors in the Indianapolis area. And maybe the most senior.

“I’m 83 years old. I don’t like traveling ... and I don’t play bridge,” said LaCrosse.

So he invests. Quietly.

LaCrosse has largely stayed out of the public eye over his long career. By choice. He doesn’t like media mentions. He agreed to talk to The Indianapolis Star recently to address a lawsuit against the foam products company he bought about two years ago.

Its former New York landlord, Jim Stallman, of Providence, R.I., says LaCrosse’s firm owed him rent and left the New York building in poor condition and removed $200,000 worth of equipment that didn’t belong to him. Stallman vows further litigation.

LaCrosse disputes the claims. “Never a dull moment,” he said.

Once the interview gets going, LaCrosse opens up, talking about his investments, the liquor business and the old office building on the Near Southside that holds NWS’ office. It’s in a former school that once housed the headquarters of Lilly Industries.

LaCrosse keeps a small staff of eight in the building, including his chief operating officer, John Baker. Another half-dozen people work at NWS’ management information systems division in Chicago.

LaCrosse is one of those businesspeople who find it hard to fade into retirement. Especially when they’re downstream of a steady cash flow.

LaCrosse and his family bought into National Wine in 1973. He had a wealth of business experience already. He’d worked as a vice president at a health care company, manager of a plastics division, a finance supervisor at Ford Motor Co. and a security analyst at a bank. And he had an MBA from Harvard Business School.

LaCrosse helped build National Wine into a profitable three-state liquor distributorship. The problem was that by 2010 the industry was consolidating and National Wine wasn’t big enough to go it alone.

So LaCrosse and his family sold half-interest to Atlanta-based Republic National Distributing Co., one of the nation’s largest liquor distributors. Then they stepped away from operations as well, turning the helm over to Republic.

But they continue to share in ongoing profits. Once again, no numbers cross LaCrosse’s lips. But liquor distributorships, it should be noted, are famous for doing well in good times and bad.

“We’re throwing off profits and looking for opportunities to invest,” is the way LaCrosse puts it now.

Baker is LaCrosse’s right-hand man. He holds an MBA from Vanderbilt, joined National Wine in 1993 and used to be its director of purchasing. He calls the new holding company “an interesting model we just sort of stumbled on as we were being shown the door in the beverage business.”

The most well-known company in the NWS portfolio is a 3-year-old Zionsville tech firm, hc1.com. It sells software services to doctor practices and other health-care providers to track blood test data and communicate with patients.

CEO Brad Bostic said he got to know LaCrosse after meeting one of his daughters at a private Northside school. He soon became one of about 10 investors in the startup and a man Bostic turns to for advice.

“He’s fulfilled by this element of being in the game,” Bostic said. “He’s about as sharp as you can be. I would not be surprised at all to see a couple of home runs come out of some of his businesses.”

LaCrosse calls hc1.com his “largest investment and we think our largest opportunity in terms of making money.”

At the moment LaCrosse is sinking lots of cash into an old-line company, Opflex Technologies, the foam products maker that’s involved in the New York dispute. He recently moved its entire factory from upstate New York to Indianapolis’ Eastside, where it’s about to start up production in the former Western Electric complex on Shadeland Avenue.

“It’s a testament to Mr. LaCrosse’s fortitude,” Opflex’s manufacturing director, Kevin Hoffman, said of the company’s move. “I could have stayed in upstate New York, but I really believe in what he’s trying to do. This could be revolutionary.”

Hoffman stood inside the 50,000-square-foot space where Opflex has moved in 20 presses the size and weight of armored trucks. They will soon start producing foam sheets, including the spongy, open-cell foam that Opflex sells for oil spill cleanups. The foam is a super-absorber of oil, can be reused by wringing the oil out, and is said to be biodegradeable when thrown away.

“Opflex is our biggest opportunity and biggest risk,” said LaCrosse. He thinks Opflex’s open-cell foam could be a huge seller.

Opflex’s legal troubles haven’t seemed to lessen LaCrosse’s appetite for more deals. Baker said another major investment by NWS is in the offing.

A parting note: The 50-50 deal with Republic National Distributing Co. runs in perpetuity, unlike most deals Republic did with local distributorships.

Meaning there’s plenty of cash for LaCrosse and Baker to pump into new businesses in the years ahead.

Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317)444-6483. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffSwiatek.

NWS Holdings

Companies in which NWS has invested:

•Opflex Technologies, Indianapolis. Makes foam products for auto industry, sports apparel, environmental cleanup.

•hc1.com, Zionsville. Develops software for blood labs, doctor’s offices to track patient blood tests.

•S25TowerServ, Indianapolis. Repairs and supplies equipment for cell towers.

•Sherish, Indianapolis. Developer of a secure photo-sharing app and software.

•Neural Analytics, Los Angeles. Sells products and services to track concussions and other brain damage.

•SteadyServ Technologies, Carmel. Sells an inventory and order management system for the beer industry.

•NWS also sells BlocksRock, a blocks game and game app for children.