The company that owns PSN/Pentair Top 50 Builder Easton Pool & Spa, manufacturer Plunge Pool Concepts and Atlantic Water Services has gained the backing of private investors.
The company now is called Easton Select Group and remains headquartered in Easton, Mass.
For the most part, existing Easton Select Group leadership will remain. Co-owner David Hobaica will serve as executive chairman and maintains equity stake in the company. Tim Dooling becomes CEO, as well as joining the investment team. Easton Pool & Spa co-owner Robert Hobaica remains as an investor and senior advisor.
Through Easton Pool & Spa, the company will begin a service consolidator. Leadership expects to acquire companies mostly from the Northeast to start, but will consider adding companies in other regions, Hobaica said, with ultimate plans to expand across the country. Most expansion is expected to occur through acquisition.
While the roll-up will focus primarily on pool/spa service and maintenance, it also will consider acquiring the construction operations of those firms that do both. Easton Pool & Spa’s construction division also remains in operation.
“As we expand nationally, we’ll be looking for other companies that are more service-related, but if they have a strong construction division, we’ll look at them,” David Hobaica said.
Easton will seek companies that hold top positions in their markets, so they can build around them. As such, they are expected to retain their current branding for at least the short term.
“We’re not looking necessarily for owners who [want] to just take the money and exit,” David Hobaica said. “We want people who want to grow with us and are looking to really take their business to the next level.”
Those who sell their companies to Easton are expected to hold stake in the new entity. The team expects to retain existing employees from the companies being acquired. “If it’s not the first question, it’s their second: ‘What about my key employees?'” Hobaica says. “We want the teams to stay intact… We want the companies to keep doing what they’re doing.”
While consolidation has mostly been taking place in the Sunbelt, the Easton team sees certain advantages in the Northeast, such as the need for closing and opening services.
Plunge Pool Concepts, which makes premanufactured plunge pools, is expected to grow its footprint across the country.
“The plunge pool space is not just a trend,” Hobaica said. “This opportunity really gives us the ability to go after those more aggressively, to sign on more dealers nationally, and really take advantage of what, in my opinion, will be a lasting category.”
As part of that strategy, the company plans to add more manufacturing facilities to have one within 400 miles of selected markets.
The equity investment, whose amount is undisclosed, was led by Brenton Point Capital Partners. The investment group includes Jeff Nodland, former President/CEO of BioLab owner KIK Custom Products; and Tim Hall, who brings 25 years experience in private equity experience.
