Pfingsten Partners has sold Full Spectrum Group to publicly traded CBRE Group for a total consideration of $110 million.
Full Spectrum (FSG) is a provider of repair, maintenance, and validation services for laboratory instrumentation. Validation ensures that a product, service, or system meets requirements and specifications and is a required component of ISO 9000 certification. FSG offers service contracts, preventative maintenance programs, instrument qualification and repair services, replacement parts, and reconditioned instruments.
Many of FSG’s customers are active in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, forensics, environmental, petroleum, food and flavor, cannabis, and government sectors. FSG, led by CEO Bob McLeese, has more than 150 employees, including more than 100 engineers, in 20 locations throughout the United States with a headquarters near Los Angeles in Laguna Hills, California.
Dallas-headquartered CBRE Group (NYSE:CBRE) is one of the largest commercial real estate services and investment firms. The company has more than 105,000 employees and approximately 450 offices worldwide. CBRE services include facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services.
The buy of FSG adds to CBRE’s existing laboratory services capabilities which it provides to occupier clients in the research and laboratory equipment sector. Specifically, CBRE will now be able to directly provide specialized maintenance and repair services for laboratory equipment, including liquid and gas chromatography, mass spectroscopy and thermal equipment.
“Full Spectrum’s highly specialized capabilities and coverage in the key US life sciences hubs further differentiates our Integrated Laboratory Solutions group and positions CBRE to self-deliver an impressive range of scientific laboratory maintenance and repair services,” said John Dunstan, the CEO of CBRE’s Global Workplace Solutions group. “This acquisition is consistent with our strategy to deliver reliable, sustainable, operationally excellent and cost-efficient technical service offerings executed by the best talent, across our clients’ facilities.”
Pfingsten acquired FSG in February 2019 through its $382 million fifth fund which closed in March 2016. During the firm’s ownership term, FSG closed four add-on acquisitions with the buys of the North Carolina-based Lab Services Division of Sequence (March 2022); Florida-based Analytical Maintenance Services (April 2021); California-based Cascade Thermal Solutions (March 2021); and the North Carolina-based Field Service Division of Pion (June 2020).
Chicago-based Pfingsten invests in middle-market manufacturing, distribution, and business services companies that have transaction values ranging from $15 million to $100 million, revenues from $20 million to $150 million, and EBITDA between $3 million and $12 million. Since completing its first investment in 1991, Pfingsten has acquired 160 such companies through five funds with total commitments of $1.3 billion.
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