The Acquirers Podcast · Thursday, August 6, 2026
Ralph Molinaro, a small-cap activist, shared his experience with Park America, a regional safari park operator. Focus Compounding, an investment fund, initially invested in Park America in early 2020, attracted by the local economies of scale and high returns on assets at the Georgia park (50-70%). However, by 2022-2023, a change in dynamics and a power struggle involving other shareholders led to Focus Compounding gaining 40% ownership and control of the board, with Molinaro joining the management team for a year to help turn the company around.
“So I started working with Focus Compounding at the end of 2020. They made their investment, um, in Park America, uh, at the beginning of 2020. So this was already a legacy position for them. Um, they were attracted to it because of the idea of just local economies of scale. Usually, in a theme park or even a smaller park like, um, the ones that Park America had, they own and operate three regional safari parks. One in Georgia, one in Missouri, and one in Texas.”
“So the Georgia park, which was their cash cow, the company was doing, that park alone on a segment basis was doing upwards of 50%, 60%, 70% return on assets. And for, um, public investors, you can kind of use that as an approximate for return on invested capital.”
“And, uh, that's when they decided to use that voting power to try to get a board seat and through, um, many attempts for settlements and negotiations, uh, had to go all the way to an annual meeting. And, uh, then, um, Focus Compounding gained control of the board. And then for a year, Jeff Gannon and I were on the management team and then several others were on the board as well. And, uh, I was there for a year to help turn around the company.”