Global Environment Fund has acquired GRO-WELL Brands, a maker of natural and organic lawn and garden products. According to the company, GRO-WELL is the Southwest’s largest green waste, wood and food waste recycler.
The company uses a proprietary composting process to make its organic garden products including soils, compost, mulch and wood chips from locally sourced waste materials. GRO-WELL distributes its products through home and garden retailers including Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Menards, True Value and ACE, as well as local garden supply retailers, hardware stores and plant nurseries. Company owned brand names include Garden Time, Nature’s Way, Arizona’s Best and GRO-WELL.
In addition to the company’s lawn and garden products, GRO-WELL also offers a line of bird seed products including America’s Best bird seed blocks, which is sold nationally through Walmart. The company is also active in sourcing green waste for various waste-to-energy plants in Arizona.
GRO-WELL was formed through the 2006 merger of Western Organics, a 48-year-old lawn and garden manufacturing company based in Phoenix and Benick Brands, an East Coast distributor of garden products. Today, GRO-WELL is headquartered in Phoenix and operates eight production facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho and California (www.gro-well.com).
Investing in this transaction alongside Global Environment Fund (GEF) are members of the senior management team including Chairman Alan Langer, Chief Operating Officer David Hancock, and President Tim Sellew.
“We look forward to partnering with Alan, David, Tim and the entire GRO-WELL team in pursuing this next phase of growth and development for the company,” said Daniel Prawda, a Managing Director at GEF who led the GRO-WELL transaction. “With a recapitalized balance sheet and additional liquidity, we are excited about continuing to develop and expand the GRO-WELL business and provide even greater service and support to the company’s customers.”
Global Environment Fund makes investments globally in the environmental services, resource efficiency, clean energy and sustainable resource management sectors. The firm was founded by Jeff Leonard and John Earhart in 1990 and is headquartered in Bethesda (www.gefcapital.com).
Debt financing for the transaction was provided by PNC Bank. Los Angeles-based Reynolds Advisory Partners (www.reynoldsap.com) represented the sellers in the transaction.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | June 22, 2017
