H.I.G. Combines Two Elevator Service Firms into EverRise

H.I.G. Capital has formed EverRise Lift Group, an independent elevator service and modernization company, by combining Action Elevator and All City Elevator.

EverRise installs, maintains, repairs and modernizes elevators for commercial, residential and institutional building owners. Maintenance contracts cover routine inspections and servicing needed to keep elevators operating safely and in compliance with code. Modernization replaces aging controllers, motors and cab components without requiring a full elevator replacement.

EverRise services non-proprietary equipment, allowing building owners to use independent service providers rather than relying on the original manufacturer.

Action Elevator provides maintenance, repair, modernization, new installation, escalator service, testing and inspections, and 24-hour emergency service. The company is headquartered in Millersville, Maryland and serves the Baltimore, Washington DC, Northern Virginia and Delmarva markets.All City Elevator offers similar services and serves Minnesota, western Wisconsin and the eastern Dakotas. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis with additional offices in St. Paul, Duluth and Fargo, North Dakota.

Christopher Smith, executive chairman of Action Elevator since 2024 and a former Otis Worldwide and Schindler Elevator executive, has been named the CEO of EverRise.

“All City Elevator’s strong presence in the Upper Midwest and Action Elevator’s continued momentum across the Mid-Atlantic are both rooted in an unwavering commitment to customer service, making the two companies a natural fit,” said Mr. Smith. “Together, as EverRise Lift Group, we offer customers a broader footprint, deeper technical bench strength, and the same unwavering focus on safety, reliability, and non-proprietary equipment that our customers have always valued. I’m honored to lead this next chapter and to build a platform that our employees, customers, and partners can be proud of.”

H.I.G. Capital acquired Action Elevator from Align Capital Partners in September 2024, with management retaining an ownership stake. At the time of the acquisition, Action served approximately 500 customers across the commercial, healthcare, education, municipal and residential sectors.

Align entered the vertical transportation services sector in September 2019 with the acquisition of Southwest Elevator, a Texas-based elevator service company. In December 2020, Southwest merged with Action Elevator and acquired Avery Elevator, a Washington DC-based elevator service company founded in 1980.

Since being acquired by H.I.G. in 2024, Action has acquired three additional Washington DC-area elevator service companies, all in 2025: Century Elevator, Gen-L Elevator, and Elevator Technologies.

H.I.G. plans to grow EverRise by expanding its modernization capabilities, investing further in technology, talent and field operations, and pursuing add-on acquisitions.

The US elevator service market is worth $6.5 billion to $8.0 billion and is growing about 6% to 7% a year, according to STEER Partners. Modernization, valued at $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion, is the fastest-growing segment at 8% to 10% a year. P&S Intelligence puts the US elevator installation and service market at $5.8 billion in 2025, reaching $7.0 billion by 2032, with maintenance and repair accounting for 45% of revenue.

Four manufacturers that also service the equipment they install dominate the market: Otis, founded in 1853 and headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut; KONE, founded in Finland in 1910; Schindler, founded in Switzerland in 1874; and TK Elevator, the former Thyssenkrupp elevator business acquired in 2020 by a consortium that included Advent International and Cinven.

Boston-headquartered consulting firm STEER estimates the manufacturers hold 65% to 70% of the US service market, with independent providers gaining about five percentage points of share since 2019. With more than 800 independent elevator companies in North America, according to Elevator World, the independent side of the market is highly fragmented. STEER counts 38 private equity platform acquisitions in elevator services between 2019 and 2023.

Recent private equity activity in the sector includes Berkshire Partners‘ acquisition of 3Phase Elevator from Fort Point Capital in June 2021; Century Park Capital Partners‘ recapitalization of Total Access Elevator, a California-based service provider, in April 2024; and Thompson Street Capital Partners‘ growth investment in ATIS, a St. Louis-based elevator inspection and consulting firm, in September 2024.

“Action Elevator and All City Elevator share a common commitment to customer service, technical excellence, and the non-proprietary model that gives building owners real choice and control,” said Rahul Vinnakota, a managing director and co-head of H.I.G. Advantage. “Bringing these two platforms together as EverRise Lift Group accelerates our strategy of building a leading, national, independent elevator services provider. We are thrilled to have Chris leading that effort and his experience across the industry’s largest operators makes him exactly the right leader for this next chapter.”

H.I.G. specializes in providing debt and equity capital to small and medium-sized companies and invests in management buyouts, recapitalizations, and corporate carve-outs of both profitable and underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.

The firm’s Advantage strategy, which makes control investments in middle-market companies with EBITDA of $25 million to $100 million, closed its first fund above target in October 2018 with $3 billion of capital. The firm’s latest US lower middle market fund, H.I.G. Capital Partners VII, closed at its $2 billion hard cap in October 2024. H.I.G. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Miami.

Mr. Vinnakota and Principal Steven Kozhimala led the transaction for H.I.G.