Through three simultaneous acquisitions, the merged group will offer a wide selection of woodchippers, snowplows, winches and utility trailers.

Ronin Equity Partners announces the creation, through three simultaneous acquisitions, of a diversified manufacturer of small- to medium-scale outdoor power equipment and utility trailers. The three merging firms focus on homeowners with more than five acres of land and on small-scale landscapers, ranchers and farmers. Two of the businesses, DK2 and SnowBear, are based in Ontario, Canada, and the third business, Currahee Trailers, is headquartered in Mount Airy, Georgia. The combined company will have over 50 years of operating experience.

Operating under the DK2 corporate name, the merged group will offer a wide selection of woodchippers, snowplows, winches and utility trailers. The owners and senior management teams of all three companies have retained a significant stake in the merged group and remain actively involved in company management.

“These three firms are helping to create a new category of high-end consumers and small-scale professional users for outdoor power equipment and utility trailers. We see significant growth in this prosumer demand for years to come,” says David Feierstein, managing partner of Ronin.

“We’ll combine the best of the companies’ manufacturing and delivery models, extend those capabilities to complementary equipment categories, and finance organic expansion and acquisition,” says Ronin Partner Tiffany Bell, who joins DK2 as CFO.

Although the purchase price is undisclosed, on a merged basis the group registers annual revenues in excess of $60 million and shows average annual sales growth over the past five years of 40-plus percent. Ronin has reserved more than $25 million to fund highly synergistic acquisitions for DK2 and is currently in discussions with several targets. More than 35 complementary businesses have been identified.

“This is more than just an investment,” says Steve Malizia, founder and CEO of DK2. “Ronin is bringing us back-office resources and scaling experience, while reinforcing operating muscle so that we can exceed our base potential as a combined group.”

At the merged DK2, Malizia will serve as CEO, alongside new Chairman Doug Robinson, one of more than 30 Ronin Operating Advisors – a group that helps source transactions and advises on tactics and strategy. Over a 30-year career, Robinson served as CEO of multiple home improvement, appliance, and building materials companies. A former President of International Operations and Development for Lowe’s Companies, Robinson headed the group’s e-commerce initiative.

Joining Malizia and Robinson on the new DK2 board are four other Ronin Operating Advisors: Jim Core, formerly President of the Professional Division at Home Depot; Tory Upham, previously General Manager at Dakine, an outdoor equipment company; Gabriel Arreaga, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Kroger; and Mark Traylor, formerly President of the AMES Companies, a non-powered lawn and garden tools company.

The acquisition of the three companies was financed using Ronin’s balance sheet, with investments from a range of limited partners, including Stephens Capital Partners, Northwood Ventures and Knott Partners.

Ronin and its investors have deployed, or reserved for follow-on portfolio investment, in excess of $350 million. The capital was committed to four platform investments, comprising a total of 14 companies. Apart from DK2, Ronin’s three other buy-and-build platforms cover commercial refrigeration, the specialty cheese industry and wastewater purification and filtration.

Triago Americas, Inc., acted as the sole placement agent on all of Ronin’s platform investments, including the DK2 transaction. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and McCarthy Tetrault LLP acted as Ronin’s legal advisors on its latest platform investment; buyside M&A advisors were Harvey & Company and Robert W. Baird. Debt was provided by Royal Bank of Canada as Lead Left Bookrunner & Administrative Agent; by HSBC and by National Bank of Canada as Joint Lead Arrangers; Desjardin acted as a debt Participant.

Attentive will use these funds to build more products, including its sales automation platform launching next month.

Attentive Inc, a Delaware-based business management software provider for landscaping and outdoor service industries, recently announced raising $5 million from Sequoia India’s Surge Fund and InfoEdge Ventures. 

Attentive has built its automated property measurement platform for the $200B+ outdoor service industry. Their software currently serves the landscaping, snow removal, paving and pest control businesses. They are an AI-based solution.

“With rising inflation and labor issues, landscapers are looking to automate archaic manual workflows and gain efficiencies. We are the only ones with the technology infrastructure to truly automate traditional workflows and save time on manual tasks like measuring every site feature to bid on a new property. The funds will be used to further build the platform and add more modules to automate the remaining landscaping workflows,” said Shiva Dhawan, co-founder & CEO of Attentive.

Attentive is all set to launch its automated estimation and proposal software for landscaping & snow professionals on Aug. 8. This will allow sales teams to completely automate their proposal workflows, helping them focus more on prospecting and building customer relationships. You can learn more here. 

The M18 FUEL Dual Battery Blower reaches full throttle in under one second.

Milwaukee is adding the new M18 FUEL Dual Battery Blower to its lineup.

Leveraging Milwaukee’s POWERSTATE Brushless Motor, the M18 FUEL Dual Battery Blower delivers the highest constant power. Unlike other units, the blower delivers an output of 17.7 Newtons and maintains that power level throughout the full discharge of the battery without drop-off. Additionally, the advanced electronic package allows the blower to reach full throttle in under one second, increasing the operator’s control and productivity. 

The M18 FUEL Dual Battery Blower is designed with an ambidextrous variable speed lock-on lever, allowing users to easily lock the desired power level with either hand. This speed control, paired with the optimized tool balance which allows for the blower nozzle to naturally point toward the ground, provides reduced fatigue and the best clearing control.  

“Throughout the United States, we are quickly seeing an increase in regulations around the emissions and noise levels of outdoor power equipment. With an eye to the future, landscape maintenance companies have started to adopt battery-powered solutions to take advantage of the benefits versus gas,” said Tony Buxton, group product manager for Milwaukee Tool. “To stay in front of these emerging requirements, we developed the M18 FUEL Dual Battery Blower to completely replace current handheld gas blowers, delivering on the power and performance professionals demand to get the job done. The dual battery blower allows businesses that operate in areas with gas engine restrictions and noise regulations to remain compliant and use the same M18 REDLITHIUM battery on other outdoor solutions, such as the mower and string trimmer.” 

The M18 FUEL Dual Battery Blower has a noise rating of 64 dB(A) and eliminates emissions so users can stay compliant with any restrictions without sacrificing power. To meet performance expectations in certain high-demand applications while maintaining system compatibility, this blower requires the simultaneous use of two M18 REDLITHIUM batteries. Delivering a maximum air volume of 600 CFM and reaching air speeds of 145 MPH, users can tackle demanding applications, such as wet leaves, while maintaining maximum control.  

The new M18 FUEL Dual Battery Blower is fully compatible with the entire M18 line, now offering more than 250+ solutions. 

Morgan Stanley Capital Partners will invest in the residential lawn care provider in Arkansas.

Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, the middle-market focused private equity team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, have completed an investment in Fairway Lawns.

MSCP is partnering with the current management team led by CEO Kyle DeMilt, who will continue to lead the business.

Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Fairway is a residential lawn care company. The company, which operates 16 branches across the Southeast region, primarily provides recurring lawn care services such as weed control and fertilization, in addition to complementary services including pest control and tree/shrub maintenance.

“For nearly 40 years, Fairway has consistently delivered best in class residential lawn care services to our customers, and we are thrilled to partner with MSCP on the next phase in our history,” said Kyle DeMilt, CEO of Fairway. “We look to leverage MSCP’s approach to operational excellence, as well as their experience completing complementary acquisitions to accelerate the expansion of Fairway’s capabilities and geographic footprint in the coming years.”

“We are excited to partner with Kyle and the Fairway team as they continue to work to build the company into the leading residential lawncare platform in the Southeast," said Adam Shaw, managing director and head of business services at MSCP. "For MSCP, Fairway represents an opportunity to execute on our core strategy of investing in focus sub-sectors where we have deep institutional knowledge and experience to drive value creation. We look forward to working together to advance the company’s market leadership position through organic growth and acquisitions.”

Debevoise & Plimpton served as legal counsel to MSCP, and Solomon Partners served as MSCP’s financial advisor. Carlyle Global Credit acted as sole administrative agent, bookrunner and arranger on the financing. Harris Williams served as financial advisor to Fairway.

The free ebook is written with Wiley publishing of the "For Dummies" initiative.

GPS Insight, a fleet and field service management software provider, announced the release of Field Service Management For Dummies, a free ebook written with Wiley publishing to help guide operations executives, business owners and service managers to the right field service management solution for their business without an overload of technical jargon.

Companies of all sizes with fleet and field operations struggle with high operating costs, safety risks and antiquated strategies that waste valuable time and money. While digital transformation may seem like a daunting project to add to the docket, it is a sure-fire way to futureproof your operations to yield exceptional cost, productivity and customer service benefits. Field Service Management For Dummies combines subject matter expertise from GPS Insight with Wiley’s editorial mission to make everything easier.

“The ‘For Dummies’ initiative gives us a great way to share field service management best practices simply and clearly, and I cannot wait to get this guide in front of field service leaders across the world,” said Shawna Stephenson, CMO at GPS Insight. “Companies who specialize in field service are facing unprecedented times, as the rapid need to digitize is met with information overload and analysis paralysis. After reading Field Service Management For Dummies, field service executives will understand how to choose the right tools to streamline the business, scale, and grow.”

Field Service Management For Dummies is now free for download.