The Potomac Company is pleased to announce the acquisition of Action Pest Control, Inc. — one of the largest privately-held pest control businesses in the midwestern United States — by its client Scotts LawnService (“Scotts”). Scotts is a subsidiary of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG), a $3.8 billion publicly traded company and the world’s leading marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products.
On October 16, 2014, Scotts LawnService entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Action Pest Control, Inc. (“Action Pest”), a residential and commercial pest control provider in the Midwest for $22.7 million. The initial purchase price accounting for the Action Pest acquisition will be determined during the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
Scotts LawnService engaged Potomac in late 2011 as its exclusive buy-side advisor in the residential and commercial pest control industry. As the global authority on valuation and M&A in structural pest control and allied industries, Potomac advised Scotts on:
- Building out pest control M&A as a strategic capability
- Recruiting key pest control M&A personnel
- Developing acquisition criteria
- Building an M&A pipeline in the pest control industry
- Valuing M&A targets
- Drafting and reviewing key transactions documents such as letters of intent
- Evaluating acquisition targets’ financial and operational performance, valuation and transaction structure.
- Establishing an appropriate due diligence protocol appropriate for pest management acquisitions.
- Integration issues and growth strategies in the pest control industry
- Board of directors presentations in support of Scotts’s growth initiatives in the pest control industry
