Warren Equity Partners, a private equity fund, has acquired two landscape and tree care companies in Georgia, Gunnison Tree Services and New Urban Forestry.
Gunnison, based in Atlanta, is a provider of tree and vegetation management services to utility, government, residential and commercial customers in the southeastern U.S. New Urban Forestry, based in Athens, Ga., is a provider of residential and commercial tree removal, arborist and management services. Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
Warren Equity recapitalized Gunnison in partnership with Matt Cathell, who founded the company in 1999 as a residential provider of tree removal services within the greater Atlanta area. Cathell will maintain significant equity ownership alongside Warren Equity in the transaction and will remain CEO of the company going forward. New Urban Forestry will run as a separate subsidiary.
“We are excited to partner with Matt and the Gunnison team,” said Michael Zhang, Vice President at Warren Equity. “Our firm has conducted in-depth research on the vegetation management industry over the last few years and identified Gunnison as a high-value target due to its strong reputation for technical expertise, safety, and reliability. Gunnison provides critical services to maintain aging electric infrastructure, and we believe we are well-positioned to help the company grow both organically and through accretive acquisitions.”
Gunnison provides comprehensive tree management services, with a specialization in highly technical tree removals. After starting more than 20 years ago with a used truck and trailer, Cathell grew Gunnison’s service offerings and customer base across multiple states due to its reputation for reliability and quality service. Today, Gunnison is a critical vendor for numerous utilities and government entities, including Georgia Power, SCANA Energy and the Georgia Department of Transportation.
“We chose to partner with Warren Equity because of their knowledge of the utility services industry and experience in building and scaling similar types of businesses,” said Cathell, CEO of Gunnison. “We are excited to bring in a partner who understands our business and who will provide valuable stewardship during our next phase of growth.”
