Authority Brands

COLUMBIA, Md. and VICTORIA, BC — Authority Brands, a residential services franchising platform in North America, today announced that British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”), one of the largest institutional investors in Canada, has agreed to acquire a significant minority stake in the company, alongside funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (“Apax Funds”), which will retain majority ownership.

Authority Brands is the premier home service franchisor in North America. Its family of home service franchise brands are leaders in their industry, providing homeowners with services from the property line to the roof line. Authority Brands’ companies include 12 leading home service franchisors: America’s Swimming Pool Company, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, The Cleaning Authority, Color World Painting, DoodyCalls, Homewatch CareGivers, Mister Sparky, Monster Tree Service, Mosquito Squad, One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning, STOP Restoration and Woofie’s. Together, these brands provide home services through approximately 860 franchise owners across North America.

Since the Apax Funds’ initial investment in 2018, Authority Brands has grown from two home service franchisors to the current 12, expanding into new geographies and services and building out a powerful infrastructure.

“We are proud to have partnered with the Authority Brands team to help build, both organically and through strategic acquisitions, a leading residential services franchising platform,” said Ashish Karandikar, Partner at Apax. “We continue to see significant room for growth by Authority Brands and are pleased to join with BCI and members of the leadership team in the next phase of the company’s journey as they extend their platform through M&A, and strategic initiatives including franchise development, technology transformation and international expansion.”

“As a long-term investor, we seek to invest in market-leading companies with strong management teams, multiple levers for growth, and resilient business models that create shareholder value, such as Authority Brands,” said Dave Hong, Senior Managing Director, Private Equity at BCI. “We look forward to working with Authority Brands and Apax to generate compelling risk-adjusted returns for our pension plan and insurance fund clients.”

“We could not be more pleased than to continue to build the premier residential services franchisor in partnership with Apax and BCI,” said Craig Donaldson, Chief Executive Officer of Authority Brands. “Both partners will add substantial value as we aim to capture further share in the highly fragmented home services market, including by evaluating M&A opportunities in new service verticals.”

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to be completed in Q4 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.

Apax was advised by Harris Williams, Boxwood Partners, William Blair & Company, Moelis & Company (financial advisors), Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, DLA Piper, and Lathrop GPM (legal counsel), and Ernst & Young (financial and tax advisor).

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is amongst the largest institutional investors in Canada with C$211.1 billion under management, as of March 31, 2022. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver and New York City, BCI is invested in: fixed income and private debt; public and private equity; infrastructure and renewable resources; as well as real estate equity and real estate debt through our independently operated platform company QuadReal Property Group. With our global outlook, we seek investment opportunities that convert savings into productive capital that will meet our clients’ risk and return requirements over time.

BCI’s private equity program actively manages a C$24.8 billion global portfolio of privately held companies and funds with long-term growth potential. Leveraging our sector-focused teams in business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare, industrials, and technology, media and telecommunications, we work with strategic private equity partners to source and manage direct and co-sponsor/co-investment opportunities.

For more information, please visit bci.ca.

Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”) is a leading global private equity advisory firm. For nearly 50 years, Apax has worked to inspire growth and ideas that transform businesses. The firm has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of more than $60 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Internet/Consumer, Tech, Services, and Healthcare. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

Apax Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.

COLUMBIA, Md. — Authority Brands announced today the purchase of Woofie’s, a Virginia-based pet care franchise. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition marks the 10^th brand addition for Authority Brands since October 2018, with Woofie’s representing the company’s 12^th brand in its home service portfolio.

Co-founded by Amy Reed and Leslie Barron in 2004 in Ashburn, VA., Woofie’s is the only mobile franchise in the professional pet care industry to offer the combined services of pet sitting, dog walking and mobile pet spa services. Woofie’s began franchising in 2018 and currently has four locations operating in Virginia.

Authority Brands’ acquisition of Woofie’s marks the launch of the company’s incubator for emerging brands within the home services sector. The incubator is designed to leverage the company’s in-depth home services experience to accelerate growth and development of smaller-scale franchise concepts that have a proven system and strong management.

“Woofie’s is a great addition to the Authority Brands’ portfolio as Amy and Leslie have built a strong brand with a passionate following,” said Rob Weddle, Chief Executive Officer, Authority Brands. “Additionally, we’re excited to leverage our extensive home services experience to fuel Woofie’s expansion as well as many other emerging service brands. The launch of this initiative allows our Authority Brands’ leadership to follow their passion – helping and guiding brands with great potential. We look forward to contributing to Woofie’s future success and identifying others in the coming months and years.”

Companies under the Authority Brands umbrella include leading home service brands The Cleaning Authority, Homewatch CareGivers, America’s Swimming Pool Company, Mosquito Squad, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Monster Tree Service, STOP Restoration, DoodyCalls, and Color World Housepainting. They operate across the residential cleaning, at-home care, swimming pool repair and maintenance, pest control services, plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (“HVAC”), tree care, restoration, pet waste removal, and painting sectors, respectively. Authority Brands supports individual franchisee growth by providing strong marketing, technology and operational tools and resources.

“With the launch of Authority Brands’ incubator, we are seeking innovative emerging concepts eager to leverage Authority Brands’ expertise in building home service brands. We were impressed with Amy and Leslie’s leadership and know they are a great fit for our new incubator program. Amy and Leslie have built a company and culture that has tremendous potential, and we are excited to help them expand exponentially,” said Ashish Karandikar, Board of Directors member of Authority Brands’ parent company and Partner at Apax.

“When we launched Woofie’s in 2004, we did so to share our passion and love for pets in our local community. Now as a member of the Authority Brands family, we are excited to bring our leading pet care services to many more communities and pet lovers. The resources and experience that Rob and his team bring to Woofie’s are immense and we can’t wait to grow our brand together,” said Amy Reed, Co-founder, Woofie’s.

COLUMBIA, Md. — Authority Brands announced today the purchase of Color World Housepainting. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition marks the ninth brand addition for Authority Brands since October 2018, with Color World Housepainting representing the company’s eleventh brand in its home service portfolio.

Founded by Tom Hodgson in 1997, Color World Housepainting has grown exponentially since its early days serving the Midwest and now has 20 franchise locations throughout the United States. Color World’s team of professional painters is highly experienced in both interior and exterior projects, using top-quality products to deliver outstanding results for residential and commercial clients. They also offer add-on services such as holiday lighting design and installation, power washing, gutter installation and repair, and minor drywall and carpentry work, allowing customers to check one more thing off their to-do list while streamlining their home improvement projects.

Companies under the Authority Brands umbrella include leading home service brands The Cleaning Authority, Homewatch CareGivers, America’s Swimming Pool Company, Mosquito Squad, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Monster Tree Service, DoodyCalls and STOP Restoration. They operate across the residential cleaning, at-home care, swimming pool repair and maintenance, pest control services, plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (“HVAC”), tree care, pet waste removal and restoration sectors, respectively. Authority Brands supports individual franchisee growth by providing strong marketing, technology and operational tools and resources.

“Color World Housepainting is an excellent addition to the Authority Brands portfolio, complementing the suite of professional home services our brands provide,” said Rob Weddle, CEO of Authority Brands. “This year mark’s Color World’s 25^th anniversary and over that time, Tom and his team have achieved impressive growth, responding to the increased demand for home improvement by expanding their offerings and investing in high-quality workmanship. We are thrilled to support Color World as the business expands into new markets and provides resources to help current franchisees achieve their growth goals.”

“When considering new brands to join the Authority Brands family, we look for growing market leaders like Color World that demonstrate a commitment to being the best in their industry and provide their franchise owners an opportunity to build a large business. We look forward to Color World scaling with the resources Authority Brands can provide,” said Ashish Karandikar, Board of Directors member of Authority Brands’ parent company and Partner at Apax.

“Building this business from scratch and being able to mentor the franchisees who have joined us in our growth has been very rewarding. Joining forces with the Authority Brands network and having their vast resources and support behind us now presents an entirely new level of opportunity for this brand,” said Tom Hodgson, Founder and CEO of Color World Housepainting.

Boxwood Partners represented Color World Housepainting and acted as their financial advisor for the transaction.

COLUMBIA, Md. — Authority Brands, LLC announced today the purchase of DoodyCalls. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition marks the eighth brand addition for Authority Brands since October 2018, with DoodyCalls representing the company’s tenth brand in its home service portfolio.

Founded in 1999 by husband-and-wife team Jacob and Susan D’Aniello, DoodyCalls has transformed from a side business to the nation’s leading pet waste removal service for dog owners.Headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, and with operations in more than 45 territories in 16 states, DoodyCalls has made its mission to put the company’s customers first while always continuing to solve pet waste problems for the planet using its unmatched industry expertise.

Authority Brands’ companies include leading home service brands The Cleaning Authority, Homewatch CareGivers, America’s Swimming Pool Company, Mosquito Squad, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Monster Tree Service and STOP Restoration, which operate across the residential cleaning, at-home care, swimming pool repair and maintenance, pest control services, plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (“HVAC”), tree care and restoration sectors, respectively. Authority Brands supports individual franchisee growth by providing strong marketing, technology and operational support.

“We’re excited to welcome DoodyCalls to the Authority Brands family and further diversify our portfolio. Jacob and Susan have established a strong business model and grown the brand tremendously over the last two decades. We look forward to helping propel the company to new heights as we put our full network of support behind this leading and innovative brand,” said Rob Weddle, CEO of Authority Brands.

“DoodyCalls adds another layer of expertise to Authority Brands and further strengthens our network. The growth and success that the company has experienced to-date is impressive, and we’re confident that DoodyCalls will continue to hit new milestones as it integrates into the Authority Brands system,” said Ashish Karandikar, Partner at Apax Partners.

“For the past 22 years, Susan and I have worked tirelessly to build a business that helps make the world a happier and healthier place for everyone and we couldn’t be more thrilled to continue our mission as part of the Authority Brands network. The support and resources we’re gaining – from marketing and operations to IT and more – will help us better serve our customers and continue growing the brand,” Jacob D’Aniello, Founder and President of DoodyCalls.

Boxwood Partners represented DoodyCalls and acted as their financial advisor for the transaction.

COLUMBIA, Md. — Authority Brands, LLC announced today the purchase of Service Team of Professionals (“STOP” or “STOP Restoration”). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition marks the seventh brand addition for Authority Brands since October 2018, with STOP Restoration representing the company’s ninth brand in its home service portfolio.

For decades, STOP Restoration has been helping clients transform disasters into peace of mind. Based in Indiana and currently operating in 31 territories across the U.S., STOP’s trained franchise professionals understand how stressful fire, water and mold damage can be and bring a depth in management and professionalism that makes the restoration process as easy as possible. The company is committed to providing the restoration services their customers need with the compassion and understanding they deserve.

Authority Brands’ companies include leading home service brands The Cleaning Authority, Homewatch CareGivers, America’s Swimming Pool Company, Mosquito Squad, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning and Monster Tree Service, which operate across the residential cleaning, at-home care, swimming pool repair and maintenance, pest control services, plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (“HVAC”) and tree care sectors, respectively. Authority Brands supports individual franchisee growth by providing strong marketing, technology and operational support.

“We’re thrilled to add STOP Restoration to the Authority Brands portfolio. Their commitment to customer service and professionalism make them a standout brand in the industry. We’re excited to be working with their experienced team and look forward to helping them grow their presence across the U.S.,” said Rob Weddle, CEO of Authority Brands.

“The addition of a restoration brand is key to enhance Authority Brands’ offering to existing franchisees and their customers. Based on STOP’s impressive track record, we’re confident that this partnership will further strengthen Authority Brands’ network,” said Ashish Karandikar, Partner at Apax Partners.

“We’re excited to be joining Authority Brands as its newest home service company. With the robust marketing, operations and IT resources now available to us, we’re eager to continue our growth and propel our success as we work to further our position as a leader in the industry,” said Brian Clark, President at STOP Restoration.

Boxwood Partners represented STOP Restoration and acted as their financial advisor for the transaction.