The investment firm that owns ValleyCrest Cos. may sell it to the Brickman Group’s ownership, The Financial Times (FT) reports. Such a deal would create the largest landscape firm in the U.S. with annual revenue approaching $2 billion.
Brickman, which private equity firm KKR purchased in November for $1.6 billion, reported 2013 annual revenue of $920 million to Landscape Management for the 2014 LM150 report, due out in June. Brickman is based in Rockville, Md., and has 150 branches and 10,000 employees nationwide.
ValleyCrest, based in Calabasas, Calif., has been owned primarily by Michael Dell’s MSD Capital since 2006. It reported 150 branches and $992 million in 2013 annual revenue to LM. It did not disclose employee figures.
“The corporate gardening business is attractive to private equity investors because it offers stable, predictable income even during times of economic depression, as companies spend on maintaining gardens to prevent an image of decline,” FT says. “The industry is also expected to gain from the rebound in the U.S.’s construction market, as housebuilders and office developers attach green space to their projects.”
KKR and MDS Capital both declined to comment on the FT report to LM. Brickman and ValleyCrest officials could not be reached immediately for comment.
