Blackstone has acquired SERVPRO, a franchisor of residential and commercial property damage restoration services, from the founding Isaacson family who will continue to maintain an equity interest in the company alongside Blackstone.
The SERVPRO franchise system is a provider of fire and water cleanup and restoration services, and mold mitigation and remediation. The company’s network of more than 1,700 individually owned and operated franchises respond to property damage emergencies ranging from small individual disasters to multi-million dollar large-loss events.
SERVPRO’s customers include insurance companies and commercial clients, as well as individual homeowners. The company was founded in 1967 by Ted and Doris Isaacson and is headquartered near Nashville in Gallatin, TN (www.servpro.com).
“We are thrilled about this long-term investment from Blackstone and the strategic benefits its global platform can provide the company, our franchisees, and our customers,” said CEO Rick Isaacson. “SERVPRO was founded over 50 years ago with the vision of becoming the premier cleaning and restoration company, and we believe this partnership with Blackstone is a vital next step towards this goal.”
“SERVPRO is a high-quality company with a strong management team and great long-term prospects,” said David Kestnbaum, a managing director at Blackstone. “We look forward to working with SERVPRO and its franchisees to help fuel the business’ next phase of growth. As one of the largest owners of residential, office, retail, hotel, and industrial real estate in the world, Blackstone has unique expertise and insights into a broad array of properties that are relevant to SERVPRO.”
Blackstone’s investment activities include private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds. The firm also provides financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory, and fund placement services. Blackstone (NYSE: BX) is headquartered in New York (www.blackstone.com).
“We are excited to make this investment and join together with the Isaacsons and the SERVPRO team as long-term growth partners,” said Peter Wallace, a senior managing director at Blackstone. “We believe the additional capital and extensive network of relationships that Blackstone can bring to bear will benefit not only SERVPRO but its more than 1,700 franchisees and its customers.”
Harris Williams (www.harriswilliams.com) is the financial advisor to SERVPRO and Bass, Berry & Sims (www.bassberry.com) is providing legal services.
Jefferies (www.jefferies.com), Credit Suisse (www.credit-suisse.com), and Deutsche Bank Securities (www.db.com) provided debt financing for the transaction and served as financial advisors to Blackstone. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (www.stblaw.com) is acting as Blackstone’s legal counsel.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | March 28, 2019