Much of the merger and acquisition activity in the landscape services sector in recent years has been driven, directly or indirectly, by private equity investment.  To understand the overall impact of COVID-19 on landscape industry M&A, we need to consider the impact on private equity. Here is a brief overview of how private equity may react to the current business climate and COVID-19. To understand the potential impact, it is important to understand that private equity comes in many flavors.  There are three major strands of private equity – “traditional” private equity, unfunded sponsors and family offices. The difference is … Read more

Due diligence is likely to look a little bit different after COVID-19.  You can expect investors and buyers to be very carefulo to conduct adequate due diligence to avoid taking on unexpected risk. With COVID-19, business travel has been substantially curtailed.  Some of that limitation is likely to continue well into the future.  Fortunately, a great deal of due diligence is now usually conducted through so-called “Virtual Data Rooms” (that provide buyers and their advisors with controlled access to company documents in a secure cloud environment.  A virtual data room is now an absolute necessity. With less travel and a … Read more

Being considered an essential service may be an investment theme for lawn and landscape businesses as we learn from the impact of COVID-19. Federal, state and local governments have instituted a variety of voluntary or mandatory measures limiting business and other activities, such as “shelter in place” or “shelter at home”, in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus.  These limkiting measures have an exception for essential services.  The National Association of Landscape Professionals and ither trade organizations have lobbied to make sure that lawn and landscapoe services are considered essential services and that such business can continue operations … Read more