Planning for the Transition of Business Ownership

Jay was struggling as he pondered the future.  His lawn and landscape business had grown to be one of the dominant landscape companies in the city.  He was extremely proud of what he had accomplished in a little over 25 years.  He knew that it was time for him to develop his exit plan, but he wasn’t sure what direction to steer the business,  JPO Landscape. Jay had always dreamed of passing JPO Landscape on to his son Adam, but he had some real concerns about that idea.  It wasn’t that he didn’t think Adam had aptitude for the business.  … Read more

Horizon Distributors Acquires Kilpatrick Operations in Florida, Carribean

Horizon Distributors, Inc. (Horizon), a full-service distributor of landscape and irrigation products, today announced its expansion into the Florida market with the acquisition of certain assets of the Kilpatrick Companies (Kilpatrick), a Boynton Beach based distributor of landscape and irrigation products and provider of equipment services with sales throughout South Florida and the Caribbean Basin. “We look forward to expanding the current product offerings in the former Kilpatrick locations to include the full breadth of irrigation, landscape, specialty and professional lawn care equipment products currently available at all Horizon sales centers,” said Jim Ross, president, Horizon. “This transaction expands Pool … Read more

Emcor Group to Acquire USM Services

EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE: EME) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire USM Services Holdings, Inc. (“USM”), a leading provider of facilities maintenance solutions in North America, from Transfield Services Limited (ASE: TSE) in an all-cash transaction for $255 million, representing $225 million for the base USM business plus $30 million for the net present value of a USM tax benefit. Transfield Services Limited is an Australian-based global provider of operations, asset management and project management services. The transaction is expected to close towards the end of June, subject to customary closing conditions. EMCOR will … Read more

Worth Reading – Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You

It is a mystery to many business owners what makes a business “saleable” and at a high value. Author and columnist John Warrillow unravels that mystery for business owners in his new book, Built to Sell:  Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You (New York: Portfolio/Penguin). Warrillow uses the story of  Alex Stapleton, the owner of an advertising agency, who consults a wise friend about selling his business.  With his friends advice, Alex transforms his relatively small, rather run-of-the-mill,  advertising agency into a scalable business that was attractive to potential buyers.  At 153 pages, the story is easy to … Read more

Aurora Capital Completes TruGreen Landcare Acquisition

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Aurora Capital Group has acquired TruGreen LandCare from The ServiceMaster Company. Financial terms of the deal were not released. TruGreen LandCare is a provider of landscape maintenance services to commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Aurora Capital manages more than $2.0 billion of capital across several private equity funds. Aurora Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with over $2.0 billion of assets under management, today announced that an affiliate has successfully completed the acquisition of TruGreen LandCare from The ServiceMaster Company. TruGreen LandCare is a leading U.S. provider of landscape maintenance services to commercial, … Read more