Nautic Partners, LLC (“Nautic”)has formed HES Facilities LLC, (“HES”), in partnership with management.
Headquartered in Knoxville, TN, and founded in May 2020, HES’s mission is to build a highly performing national company to provide essential custodial and maintenance services to K-12 and higher education customers across the United States. HES intends to grow in the years to come via both acquisition of highly performing regional companies across the country, as well as sustained organic growth. In conjunction with its formation, HES acquired SMS, LLC in May 2020. SMS was founded in 2007 and together with HES currently serves higher education and K-12 customers in Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.
HES was formed under the leadership of Charlie Spencer as President and CEO, and Buddy Helton as Chairman of the Board. This team previously collaborated to grow the top and bottom line of the education facility services segment of GCA Services (a former Nautic portfolio company) for 11 consecutive years with high customer satisfaction across hundreds of universities and K-12 school district clients. The two have also partnered more recently at ESS, a current Nautic portfolio company, where Mr. Helton will remain as CEO.
“We are excited to have the support of Nautic as we seek to build HES into a strong national player. Our management team and customer relationships are very strong today and we believe they will only improve over time through this partnership. We are actively looking for companies to join our platform and we aspire to be the acquirer of choice for high performing family-owned companies in the education facility services industry,” said Buddy Helton, Chairman of HES.
“Particularly in light of the unprecedented budgetary and health challenges posed to schools by COVID-19, HES is proud to have the management depth and experience to offer the very highest levels of cleaning and facility maintenance services at a competitive cost,” said Charlie Spencer, HES’s Chief Executive Officer.
Bernie Buonanno, Managing Director of Nautic, said, “Nautic is fortunate to have known Buddy and Charlie for many years, and to have supported them at GCA, ESS, and now HES. We believe our long-term and successful relationship is a testament to their talents and is an example of how we aspire to be the partner of choice for top management teams.”
Nick Vidnovic, Vice President of Nautic, continued, “We are proud to support a company that will provide K-12 and higher education customers with a premier level of facility service that will allow them to focus on their core educational mission. We are excited to work with the HES team to support their growth through both organic investment and acquisitions.”