Warren Equity has closed two acquisitions in the arborist services sector with the buys of Gunnison Tree Services and New Urban Forestry.
Gunnison Tree Services is a provider of tree and vegetation management services to utilities, governments, residential, and commercial customers in the Southeastern United States.
The company has a specialization in highly technical tree removals and counts as its customers Georgia Power, SCANA Energy, and the Georgia Department of Transportation. Gunnison was founded in 1999 by CEO Matt Cathell and is headquartered in Atlanta.
Similar to Gunnison, New Urban Forestry is an Athens, Georgia-headquartered provider of residential and commercial tree removal and recycling, pruning, cabling and bracing, and lightning protection services.
Warren partnered on this transaction with Mr. Cathell who is maintaining an equity ownership position in the company and will continue to serve as the CEO of the business. New Urban Forestry will operate as a subsidiary of Gunnison.
“We chose to partner with Warren Equity because of their knowledge of the utility services industry and experience in building and scaling similar types of businesses,” said Mr. Cathell. “We are excited to bring in a partner who understands our business and who will provide valuable stewardship during our next phase of growth.”
“We are excited to partner with Matt and the Gunnison team. Our firm has conducted in-depth research on the vegetation management industry over the last few years and identified Gunnison as a high-value target due to its strong reputation for technical expertise, safety, and reliability,” said Michael Zhang, a vice president at Warren Equity. “Gunnison provides critical services to maintain aging electric infrastructure, and we believe we are well-positioned to help the company grow both organically and through accretive acquisitions.”
The buy of Gunnison is Warren’s tenth platform investment since its formation and its sixth Fund II platform. The most recent four platforms are Meridian Waste, a Georgia-based provider of non-hazardous solid waste collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services (April 2018); SIMCO, a North Carolina-based provider of corrosion protection services (May 2018); StormTrap, an Illinois-based designer and engineer of stormwater management systems (December 2018); and Magneto & Diesel Injector Service (DBA M&D Distributors), a Texas-based aftermarket distributor of parts and components for maintaining and repairing diesel-powered engines (December 2018).
Warren Equity invests from $5 million to $40 million in North American-based companies that have from $3 million to $15 million of EBITDA and total enterprise value of less than $150 million. Sectors of interest include industrial, infrastructure, and business services. In January 2019, the firm closed its second fund at its $310 million hard cap. The firm was founded in 2015 and is based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
Private Equity Professional | July 8, 2020
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