The Stephens Group LLC of Little Rock on Tuesday announced a deal to sell one of its portfolio companies, Summit Industrial Construction LLC of Houston, Texas, to publicly traded Comfort Systems USA.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Summit is a specialty industrial mechanical contractor offering engineering, design-assist and turnkey, direct-hire construction services of modular systems for the advanced technology, power and industrial sectors. The company has four office locations, along with modular fabrication yards, located in Texas and Arizona.
Comfort Systems, which is also headquartered in Houston, is a provider of commercial, industrial and institutional heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical contracting services with 169 locations across the U.S. The company said it expects Summit to contribute annualized revenue of about $360 million to $400 million, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $30 million to $45 million.
Comfort Systems in 2022 posted $245.9 million in net income on $4.14 billion in revenue.
Brian Lane, CEO of Comfort Systems, said the acquisition of Summit is expected to expand and diversify the company’s modular construction offering, which is experiencing significant demand and growth.
“We believe that Summit will be a key platform to further expand our off-site solutions, especially for advanced technology and heavy industrial customers,” he said.
Summit was founded in 1996 by Todd Ballard and Mark Bryan.
The Witt Stephens-led private equity firm purchased a controlling interest in Summit in 2011. As part of the transaction, Jim Watson, formerly of Teton Industrial Construction, became board chair and Jeff Johnson, former president of VCC Construction of Little Rock, was installed as CEO. Both are still in those roles.
The Stephens Group said Summit has grown to become a trusted supplier to some of the world’s largest advanced technology, power and industrial companies and is currently deployed on several major chip fabrication projects.
“The Stephens Group has been a wonderful and patient partner the last twelve years,” Johnson said in a statement. “With their support, we added key personnel to our team, evaluated several acquisition targets, and strategically shifted our end markets of focus. We are excited to continue our growth with Comfort Systems.”
He continued: “We chose Comfort Systems based on our belief that we can leverage their complementary capabilities and assets to better serve our customers. Summit and Comfort Systems have a strong cultural alignment and a shared commitment to team members at all levels. Together we can continue our strategic focus and provide even more value to customers with additional capabilities and resources. We believe that Summit and Comfort Systems have a bright future.”
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