2014 – The Year in Review

2014 was the strongest year in many years for green industry mergers and acquisitions.  The merger of The Brickman Group with The ValleyCrest Companies was the blockbuster transaction of the year.  This transaction was particularly dramatic coming after the later 2013 acquisition of Brickman by KKR.  The following transactions were publicly reported:

Arrow Environmental of Sarasota, Florida, acquired Bug Out Service of Jacksonville, Florida, and Harmony Lawn Care of Bradenton, Florida.

Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators

acquired Action Pest Control of Northwest Florida.  Arrow provides lawn care in addition to pest control services.

Bell Nursery acquired  Blue Ridge Growers in Virginia and Bentwood Farms in North Carolina.

Chicago-based  Alfred Benesch & Company (Benesch) has merged with Site Solutions, a Charlotte, North Carolina based site planning and landscape architecture firm.

The Brickman Group completed its merger with The ValleyCrest Companies.  Brickman also acquired Metheny Commercial Lawn Maintenance in Dallas.

The Budd Group, an integrated facilities services company based in North Carolina, acquired The Grounds Crew in Orlando, Florida.

Cantu Enterprises acquired Technical Pest Services of Houston, marking its entry into the Houston market.

Charlesbook Capital Partners has acquired American Residential Services, Ltd. (ARS)  ARS is the plumbing and HVAC business which is led by Don Karnes and Dave Slott, former top executives of TruGreen Lawncare.  ARS employs many former TruGreen managers.

CIVC Partners acquired Yellowstone Landscape Group from Gridiron Capital.  Yellowstone has its primary operations in Florida, Texas and Georgia.

Lodi, California-based Clark Pest Control has acquired Bugz-B-Gone of Paso Robles and Stock Exterminator of Escondido.  Clark offers lawn care in addition to pest control.

Color Point, Inc., acquired Mid-American Growers.

Davey Tree acquired Cortese Tree Specialists in Knoxville, Florida’s Lawn Logic, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Klebasko Environmental Services in Maryland Maier Forest & Tree of Rochester, Minnesota, and Superior NW Tree & Shrub Care of Seattle, Washington.

The Dwyer Group, franchisor of The Ground Guys and other franchise brands, has been re-acquired by The Riverside Group

Emerald Lawn Care and Executive Lawn Care have merged in Frisco, Texas.

Evergreen Turf & Tree of Troy, Ohio, has merged with Powell’s Lawn Care and Anderson Tree Tech.

Maryland-based Green Street Growers

acquired Eclectic Nature Gift and Garden Center in Alexandria, Virginia.

GI Partners acquired the Kellermeyer Bergenson facilities management business.

Greater Texas Landscapes, a unit of The Groundskeeper, acquired Hadden Landscape in Dallas.

John Deere Landscapes acquired BISCO in New England, The Stockyards Horticultural Supply near Memphis, Eljay Irrigation, Ltd, a Canadian wholesale distributor with nine locations in western Canada, and Diamond Head Sprinkler Supply with three locations in Hawaii.

Bountiful, Utah-based Lawn Butler and Erickson Landscaping have merged.

Tyler, Texas-based Lawn Masters and Salcido Lawn have merged to form Clear Choice Lawncare.

Levine Leichtman completed a leveraged recapitalization of its portfolio company, Lawn Doctor.

Nashville-based planning firm Littlejohnacquired Kramer & Little in Orlando.

Skyline Pest Control has acquired the pest control division of The Aabby Group

Massey Services acquired Green Pest Services in Austin, Texas.

McCall Service of Jacksonville, FL, acquiredEnviro Pest Control, also of Jacksonville. Both companies provide lawn care in addition to pest control and termite services.

Merit Service Solutions acquired Austin-based SunTerra Landscape Services

Moyer Indoor|Outdoor  acquired Almond Pest Control in Pennsylvania.

Noon Turf Care of Marlborough, Massachusetts, acquired Grasshopper Lawns in Connecticut and the lawn care division of Driven Landscape in Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

Atlanta-based Oasis Landscape and Irrigation acquired Lawn Ranger in Roswell, Georgia.

Arizona’s Paramount Landscape has been acquired by a private investor.

Piedmont LLC of Shelby, North Carolina has merged with Sherman Landscaping.

New Jersey-based Raimondi Horticultural Group has acquired Anderson Ward Plantscapes.

Minnesota-based Reliable Property Services has formed a strategic partnership with The Lawn Ranger of Minnesota, acquiring its landscape maintenance business.

Ruppert Landscape acquired A R Star Services in Maryland.

Austin-based planning and landscape architecture firm RVi  acquired Dallas-based NJB.

Ryan Lawn & Tree of Overland Park, Kansas, merged with Simply Green Lawn Sprinklers of Riverside, Missouri.

SavATree acquired St. Croix Tree Service of Wisconsin and Minnesota and Connecticut’s Country Tree.

SB Capital Partners acquired San Diego’s Aerations Only.

Washington’s SCJ Alliance  acquired Project Groundwork.

Scotts Lawn Service, a unit of The Scotts Miracle Gro Company acquired Indiana-based Action Pest Control.  This is Scott’s long-awaited platform investment in pest control. Scotts operates its pest control business under the Ortho brand.

The ServiceMaster Company completed a spin-off of TruGreen Lawncare.

Superior Street Partners acquired Virginia’s Riverbend Nursery.

Swingle Tree & Lawn of Colorado acquired Advanced Tree and Lawn Concepts of Golden, Colorado.

Colorado-based Terracare Associatesacquired VMC Landscape in Dallas.

Thompson Landscape acquired Budget Lawn Care of Plano, Texas.

Truly Nolen acquired Fox Pest Control of El Paso, Texas.

Turf Diagnostics & Design and Hummel & Co. merged to form Turf & Soil Diagnostics.

Arizona-based Wheat Scharf Associates and LJ Design & Consulting merged to form Wheat Design Group – Landscape Architects.

If you know of green industry business sales or mergers & acquisitions that should be reported here, please contact us.  Please also add us to press release distribution lists.