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Unity Partners Forms Midwestern Landscaping Platform with Yardmaster, Big Lakes and Kunco

via Business Wire

Three Businesses To Be Fully Integrated and Operate Under the Yardmaster Brand

Unity Partners (“Unity” or “the firm”), a principles-based private equity firm, today announced it has formed a new midwestern landscaping platform spanning three states with completed investments in Yardmaster of Columbus, Ohio, Big Lakes Lawncare of Detroit, Michigan and Kunco Landscape of Erie, Pennsylvania. Terms of the private transactions were not disclosed.

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The combined business will be led by Yardmaster CEO Mike Montenaro. All three companies provide a range of landscaping services including landscape maintenance, lawn care, enhancement, and installation, as well as snow management services to clients in the commercial, multi-family, HOA, office, industrial and retail end markets.

“We are thrilled to launch this partnership with Unity,” said Mike Montenaro, CEO of Yardmaster. “Our teams are excited about the strong alignment with Unity around our shared values, ambitious goals for the business, and our passion for serving our teammates and clients.”

Yardmaster is well-positioned to capitalize on growth in the commercial landscaping market, which is estimated to be $80 billion.

“Each of these businesses represents the type of partnership Unity seeks: ambitious leaders with deep roots in their markets, exceptional service quality, impressive track records of long-term growth, and clear growth opportunities,” said Brett Stoehr, Vice President of Investments at Unity Partners. “Our partnership is an ideal result of our investment thesis around commercial landscaping, and we’re excited to support the continued expansion and combined vision for a leading regional landscaping platform.”

As with all Unity Partners platform investments, Yardmaster will be implementing an Employee Purpose Plan that provides all of its employees with a meaningful stake in the firm’s financial success and capital events.

“Since our first interactions, the teams at Yardmaster, Big Lakes, and Kunco have all expressed enthusiasm in partnering to be part of something larger,” said Jim Sharpe, Partner and Head of Propel at Unity Partners. “We’re excited to contribute to value acceleration across key operational levers, including technology, sales and marketing, talent development, and platform integration.”

“We’re thrilled about the strength and scale that this combination brings,” said Chester Buczynski, Founder of Big Lakes Lawncare and current President of Yardmaster. “Partnering with Yardmaster allows us to leverage additional resources, talent, and expertise to better serve our clients and accelerate growth. Our team is energized about the opportunities ahead.”

Connell Foley LLP served as legal advisor to Yardmaster on the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Unity Partners. 3PG Advisors, LLC, served as financial advisor to Yardmaster and Big Lakes.

About Unity Partners

Unity Partners is a principles-based private equity firm that partners with investors and operators to build better together, measured by the economic surplus we create and share with all stakeholders. Our principles provide a foundation to build great people-based services and technology organizations that impact thousands of lives. We deploy our Partner & Propel strategy to identify opportunities to Partner with ambitious leaders to accelerate growth, unlock the benefits of platform scale through mergers and acquisitions, and Propel value acceleration through investments in people, processes, and operational levers. For more information, visit www.unitypartnerslp.com.

About Yardmaster

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Yardmaster provides landscape maintenance, enhancement, installation, and snow management services to commercial clients throughout the Midwest. For more information, visit www.yardmaster.com.

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