Sterling Partners Welcomes Hoffman Southwest Corporation into Portfolio

CHICAGO and MISSION VIEJO, Calif., July 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago-based Sterling Partners, a leading growth-oriented private equity firm with approximately $5 billion of assets under management, is pleased to announce it has acquired Hoffman Southwest Corp. (HSW), a leader in underground pipeline condition assessment and repair, and the largest franchisee of Roto-Rooter® in the United States. HSW's existing executive management team, including Mark Metcalfe and Monte Yoder, will continue to lead daily operations and provide strategic direction alongside Sterling Partners. The transaction officially closed on July 13, 2015.

HSW was founded in 1946 as a franchisee of the iconic Roto-Rooter® brand, providing high-quality plumbing, draining and inspection services to commercial and residential properties in the western United States. Today, HSW operates 12 Roto-Rooter® branches in six states that assist nearly 30 million customers. The company's unique customer base is evenly split between commercial and residential customers.

In 1992, HSW established Professional Pipe Services (Pro-Pipe) and now has eight active branches on the west coast, with plans to expand its footprint. Pro-Pipe serves multiple municipalities, as well as contractors, engineers, government agencies, facility owners, homeowners and natural gas providers with state-of-the-art closed circuit television (CCTV) inspection services. Its inspection services range from optical condition assessment of manholes and geographic information system integrations, to CCTV lateral launch systems for mainline and lateral inspections, laser profiling for collecting survey data, and pipeline report creation. Pro-Pipe also has a large and growing cross bore practice that assists municipalities and utilities in identifying potential sewage pipe obstructions.

"Underground sewer lines require ongoing inspection and maintenance, and utility lines installed using boring methods can unintentionally intersect with existing sewer lines.  We are one of the West's leading experts in gas line cross-bore prevention.  We employ some of the most experienced operators in the industry, and provide the highest quality of service and safety standards to our customers," said Metcalfe, HSW's VP of Operations. "But in order to scale our business and expand our service offerings to our existing Pro-Pipe and Roto-Rooter® customer base, we needed a partner. Sterling Partners not only brings an entrepreneurial mindset to the table, they also bring the financial capital we need to reach our goals."

"Sterling Partners shares our vision for our business," added Yoder, HSW's VP of Finance & Administration.  "Their deep experience in growing results-driven, profitable maintenance and inspection companies is crucial to help us implement the necessary operational changes for this next stage of growth."

"The Roto-Rooter® legacy of providing responsive, best-in-class services to commercial and residential customers provides a great opportunity to expand into new markets. There is also an enormous demand for pipeline risk mitigation as municipalities and utilities have a critical interest in ensuring pipelines are functioning safely and properly," said Alan Macksey, Managing Director at Sterling Partners. "We're excited to work with existing management to deliver a greater breadth of services to existing Pro-Pipe and Roto-Rooter® customers."

HSW joins Sterling's active industrial, commercial and energy services portfolio, an area in which the firm has extensive experience partnering with businesses that consistently increase efficiency, improve quality and mitigate risk.

B. Riley & Co., LLC acted as the financial advisor to HSW in connection with the transaction.

About Hoffman Southwest Corp.

Hoffman Southwest Corp. (HSW) is a leading provider of water flow solutions services. Its Professional Pipe Services (Pro-Pipe) division is a leader in underground pipeline condition assessment and repair, providing state-of-the-art closed circuit television (CCTV) inspection services, including video inspection, underground mapping, cleaning and rehabilitating sewage pipelines for municipalities, contractors, engineers, government agencies, facility owners, homeowners and natural gas providers in the western United States. For more information, visit https://www.pro-pipe.com.

HSW is also the largest franchisee of Roto-Rooter®, the largest provider of plumbing and drain cleaning services in North America. Today, HSW operates 12 Roto-Rooter® branches in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon and Texas. For more information about Roto-Rooter®, visit http://www.rotorooter.com/.

About Sterling Partners

Sterling Partners is a private equity firm with a distinct point of view on how to build great companies. Founded in 1983, Sterling has invested billions of dollars, guided by the company's stated purpose: INSPIRED GROWTH®, which describes Sterling's approach to buying differentiated businesses and growing them in inspired ways. Sterling focuses on investing growth capital in small- and mid-market companies in industries with positive, long-term trends – healthcare, education and business services. Sterling provides valuable support to the management teams of the companies in which the firm invests through a deep and dedicated team of operations and functional experts based in the firm's offices in Chicago, Baltimore and Miami.

The people at Sterling believe in ideas and ideals, in people and partnerships that drive long-term success. For more information, please visit www.sterlingpartners.com.

SOURCE Sterling Partners

Related Links

http://www.sterlingpartners.com

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