Building Industry Partners (BIP) Announces Sale of Endeavor Fire Protection to APi Group Corp
Originally Published by: Business Wire — November 20, 2024
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Building Industry Partners (“BIP”), the leading middle market private equity firm focused on the U.S. building industry, is proud to announce the successful sale of Endeavor Fire Protection (“Endeavor”), a rapidly growing provider of fire protection and life safety installation, maintenance and repair, and inspection services. Endeavor was sold to APi Group Corporation (NYSE: APG) (“APi”), a market-leading publicly traded provider of business services, including safety and specialty services, with over 500 locations worldwide. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“The successful sale of Endeavor represents our first exit of a business where we implemented our new broad-based employee ownership program”
BIP launched the Endeavor platform in partnership with Robert Lane, Endeavor’s CEO, in 2022, initially focusing on the Greater Chicago market, with the acquisitions of Valley Fire Protection and Allegiant Fire Protection. With the support of BIP, Endeavor expanded its geographic footprint from three to eight locations serving markets in fourteen states with a total of nearly 300 team members. Over the course of a two-year ownership period, Endeavor’s revenues and profitability grew more than 2x and 3.5x, respectively, through organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions. “We believe that APi Group shares our core beliefs, including strong performance for our customers, growth and opportunity for our employees, and honesty and integrity in our daily business. This partnership will enhance our commitment and investment in our people and allow us to better serve our customers and communities. Our remarkable growth these past few years reflects the commitment of our local management teams, the skill of our frontline tradespeople, and Endeavor’s steadfast focus on being a partner of choice to our customers, and an employer of choice to our team members,” said Mr. Lane.
“This is a well-deserved milestone for the Endeavor team and our investors. We are grateful to have sponsored such a committed and skilled management team,” said Pat Mascia, Partner at BIP. “Endeavor’s success exemplifies the power of backing talented leaders in segments where they have passion, vision, and a demonstrated track record of value creation.”
Justin Gilson, Partner at BIP, added, “The Endeavor team has done an exceptional job growing organically with a focus on targeting value added work in attractive end markets, and strategically entering new geographies in the Western U.S. via acquisitions. We are excited for Endeavor to begin its next chapter with APi, who we expect will be an excellent steward of the business.”
Endeavor employees also shared in the transaction’s success by participating in a broad-based employee ownership plan, an initiative that BIP has piloted at all of its portfolio companies since 2020.
“The successful sale of Endeavor represents our first exit of a business where we implemented our new broad-based employee ownership program,” said Matt Ogden, Managing Partner of BIP. “We learned a lot operationalizing this pilot program, and there is much room for improvement ahead as we scale the initiative. We believe employee ownership better aligned the interests among Endeavor’s shareholders, management, and team members, contributing to Endeavor differentiating its recruitment, retention, and professional development efforts. This, in turn, helped the company towards becoming an employer of choice in its markets. Most fulfilling was that Endeavor team members shared in the meaningful equity value they helped create.”
FMI Capital Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Endeavor Fire Protection and Holland & Knight provided legal counsel to BIP.