Tounge Associates adds Matthew Porter as senior adviser

Matthew Porter joined Tounge Associates as senior adviser to the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory team, with a focus on the oil, propane and HVAC markets.

Porter

Porter was the founder and owner of Tidewater Oil Co., an oil, propane and service business in Belfast, Maine. Tounge Associates had assisted Porter in the sale of his business to Dead River Co. in 2022.

Porter grew up in a family-owned oil company. When he started Tidewater in 2006, he remembered tagging along on deliveries and service calls when he was young and witnessed daily his father’s commitment to exceeding his customers’ expectations, Tounge Associates explains. Those early lessons were the foundation upon which Tidewater was built. After more than 15 years of operations, Porter decided he was ready to exit.

“We greatly enjoyed working with Matt and his family during the sale process of his business,” says JT Tounge, managing partner at Tounge Associates. “It’s a great honor to add him to our team to help other business owners navigate the same process. Matt ran a tight ship and a family-, customer- and employee-focused business at Tidewater. We share the same values at Tounge Associates and are excited to be working with Matt again.”

After a year of enjoying travel with his wife, Michele, on a 92-day road trip in which they visited every state in the Lower 48, Porter is ready to jump back into work by advising other business owners as they navigate their exit strategy and the sale of their business, the company says.

Tounge Associates, based in Portland, Maine, is a family-owned, sell-side M&A advisory firm with more than 30 years of experience. It focuses on companies in the commercial lighting, energy distribution and services, and health care services.