Author: Andrew Warth

Oceanside, CA, August 1, 2019 – Kellermeyer Bergensons Services, LLC (KBS), a leading North American provider of technology-enabled, integrated facility management services to the industrial, commercial, logistics, retail, and grocery sectors, today announced its acquisition of PE Facility Solutions, LLC (“Pristine”), a provider of facility management, contract cleaning and related services. KBS is a portfolio company of San Francisco-based private investment firm GI Partners. Pristine is owned by Massachusetts-based Great Elm Capital Corp.

Mark Minasian, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of KBS stated, “Pristine is an outstanding asset and its integration into the KBS platform is an important step toward advancing our expansion into targeted end markets and services. We look forward to partnering with the Pristine leadership team, a group of top tier industry professionals who share our values and commitment to their people and customers. Combined with KBS, Pristine’s team and customers will benefit from our unmatched technology, world class service infrastructure and continental scale.”

Hoon Cho, Managing Director at GI Partners stated, “Pristine is the seventh acquisition the KBS team has made during our partnership together, once again demonstrating that KBS is the buyer of choice for middle market facility service firms seeking liquidity, scale or partnership opportunities. We congratulate and welcome the Pristine team to KBS and are excited about the benefits that come to both organizations through this acquisition.”

Fergus O’Connell, Pristine’s Chief Financial Officer stated “We had the opportunity to get to know Mark and the KBS team during the process and were impressed by the clarity of their direction, command of the industry drivers and their intense customer focus. We are very excited to be combining our resources with KBS.” Mr. O’Connell, formerly of ISS UK and North America, will lead the Pristine integration and serve as Executive Vice President for Business Development at KBS going forward.

Added John Ehlinger, a Managing Director at Great Elm Capital Management, the investment manager of Great Elm Capital Corp., “We are pleased to have partnered with Mr. O’Connell, Shaun Gordon, Jennifer Mintman and, the rest of the PEFS management team, to successfully monetize the largest position related to the legacy Full Circle portfolio. Utilizing our balance sheet and hands-on approach, the Great Elm team worked closely with PEFS to help grow the business and ultimately position it for sale to a well-respected operator like KBS.”

About KBS

Kellermeyer Bergensons Services, LLC (KBS) is a leading North American provider of technology-enabled, integrated facility management services to the industrial, commercial, logistics, retail, and grocery sectors. With more than 51,000 active customer locations in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, and Puerto Rico, KBS sets the industry standard for delivering consistently high quality, compliant and cost-effective facility service solutions. Based in Oceanside, Calif., the company is majority owned by GI Partners. For more information on Kellermeyer Bergensons Services, please visit www.kbs-services.com/.

About GI Partners

GI Partners is a private investment firm based in San Francisco. The firm has raised $17 billion in capital from leading institutional investors across the globe. GI Partners’ private equity team focuses on investments in the IT Infrastructure, Healthcare, Software, and Services sectors. For more information on GI Partners, please visit www.gipartners.com.

About PE Facility Services

PE Facility Services (Pristine Environments) manages, maintains and optimizes the performance of mission critical facilities for industrial, institutional corporate real estate owners in nearly 150 million square feet of specialized buildings throughout North America. From life sciences, aerospace, datacenters, oil + gas, telecom, health and wellness, and commercial real estate, our team of nearly 900 professionals keeps these industries buildings and facilities operating efficiently, sustainably and on budget. www.pristine-environments.com.

About Great Elm Capital Corp.

Great Elm Capital Corp. is an externally-managed business development company that invests in the debt instruments of middle market companies with enterprise values typically between $100 million and $2 billion and a focus on special situations and catalyst-driven opportunities. Its stock is traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “GECC”. For more information on GECC, please visit www.greatelmcc.com.

Good news for building owners, engineers/architects and HVAC contractors; Will save energy, construction costs and space in commercial facilities.

Doorway air curtains were approved June 25 as alternatives to vestibules on most commercial building entries in the upcoming ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2019 “Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low Rise Residential Buildings.” The professional association’s approved addition requires that the air curtain performance be tested in accordance with ANSI/AMCA Standard 220 to ensure it provides a minimum 400 ft/min. airstream velocity at the floor.

The approval is good news for retail, restaurants, healthcare, hotels, office and other facility owners, because they can now opt to forego the expense of vestibules in new construction, or repurpose significant square footage for more productive uses by retrofitting existing vestibules. Consulting engineers and architects, who previously were hesitant to supplant vestibules with air curtains due to inconsistent code language, now have the support of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2019 which will be published this Fall. Furthermore, HVAC contractors will see a spike in air curtain installations to accommodate facilities looking to prevent energy loss through their main entries and meet building codes. Air curtains also protect against the infiltration of outdoor air, fumes, flying insects, wind and dust through open doorways, and contribute to occupant air comfort.

The addition’s “Air Curtain Effectiveness” task force was sponsored by  AMCA (Air Movement and Control Association–International), an Arlington Heights, Ill.-based trade association dedicated to certifying manufacturers’ air performance statistics. “This is the most significant recognition of air curtains as an effective energy conservation device since the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) approved air curtains as vestibule substitutes in 2015,” said David Johnson, president of AMCA, and director of engineering for air curtain manufacturer, Berner International, New Castle, Pa. 

Inclusion in ASHRAE Standard 90.1 required more than eight years of air curtain research and presentations. The IECC code and the high performance overlay code, the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), helped initiate the path to Standard 90.1 acceptance by allowing AMCA-certified air curtains as substitutes for vestibules.  However, ASHRAE’s mechanical, building envelope and other subcommittees required additional research of real world air curtain situations such as wind loads and building pressure differentials on an annual national-weighted average basis.  Subsequently, the subcommittees accepted AMCA’s commissioned research represented by three third-party lab studies by Montreal-based Concordia University professor, Dr. Liangzhu Wang: 1) Investigation of the Impact of Building Entrance Air Curtain on Whole Building Energy Use in 2013; 2) Energy Saving Impact of Air Curtain Doors in Commercial Buildings in 2016; and 3) Wind Effects on Air Curtain Aerodynamic Performance in 2018 (also co-authored by Ted Stathopoulos). All three studies proved air curtains that maintained a minimum 400 ft/min. airstream at the floor (as per ANSI/AMCA Standard 220), were equally effective or better than vestibules in buildings 3,000-square-feet and larger.

Decades ago, two-door vestibules were code-mandated to save building energy. Theoretically they created an air lock as one door would open and close before the second door opened. However, the emergence of automatic door opening sensor requirements, smaller space-saving dimensions and other infringements on vestibule effectiveness, helped make air curtains an attractive energy saving alternative. On average, air curtain-protected doorways were proven to save total building energy usage by a factor of 0.3 to 2.2-percent more over that of vestibules, according to Wang’s studies. This illustrates they’re equal or more effective at separating outdoor and indoor environments regardless of door opening styles or cycles.

 

Transformative Wave, a leading innovator in HVAC energy efficiency and building automation solutions, has joined Connex, the Multi-Site Facilities Network group, formerly known as the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM).

The rebranded organization has been evolving rapidly to embrace the evolution of the facilities industry. With their new focus to help facility and maintenance managers navigate the complexities across the entire spectrum of facilities, beyond just single-site store maintenance, it is a fitting time for Transformative Wave to shed expertise on multi-site energy management and building automation solutions.

Connex empowers retail and multi-site industry facilities management professionals with best practices, benchmarking, education, discussion forums and trusted partnerships. Chartered in 1995, and with almost 1,000-member companies, the Connex community values are founded on a spirit of innovation, resourcefulness, the quest for knowledge and ethical business relationships.

“It is an exciting time in our industry as we see expanded responsibilities for facility managers and an ever-increasing emphasis on energy and sustainability,” said Bryan Walker, solutions executive at Transformative Wave and former President of the PRSM/Connex Board of Directors. “We look forward to bringing value to the members of Connex through our industry knowledge, resources, and multi-site client experience.”

About Transformative Wave
Transformative Wave is a leading energy efficiency innovator in HVAC retrofit and building automation solutions, developing and bringing to market a growing line of game-changing technologies that are transforming the commercial building energy landscape. For more information or to request a demo of any of our revolutionary products, including Cobalt, the CATALYST, and eIQ Platform, visit www.transformativewave.com.

About Connex
Connex, the authority on retail and multi-site facilities management, is the leading membership organization for multi-site facilities and supplier professionals. Connex empowers multi-site industry facilities management professionals with best practices, benchmarking, education, discussion forums and trusted partnerships. Chartered in 1995, and with almost 1,000-member companies, the Connex community values are founded on a spirit of innovation, resourcefulness, the quest for knowledge and ethical business relationships. Members depend upon Connex to help them achieve greater success and a competitive advantage through quality programs and resources. Visit connexfm.com for more information.

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today’s retailers are seeking new and innovative ways to extend their brands through various omni-channel strategies; CS Hudson and International Retail Management and Consulting Group (IRG ) have partnered to meet this need by delivering truly unique, immersive experiences. This first-of-its-kind experiential pop-up shop offers consumers the opportunity to interact with digitally native, direct-to-consumer and licensed brands—a new “R_Evolution” in the retail industry.

“We’ve been searching for a pop-up shop experience that can both stand the test of time, and feature fresh merchandise, rotating brands and exciting experiential events,” says Joseph Scaretta, co-founder and co-CEO of CS Hudson. “We couldn’t find exactly what we were looking for, so we decided to assemble the best partners and build it ourselves!”

This experiential masterpiece that is R_Evolution is slated to pop up mid-summer at Long Island’s Tanger Outlet Center and will last until the end of the year. International Retail Management and Consulting Group (IRG) and CS Hudson are collaborating on this joint venture in an effort to push the boundaries of retail.

“We are excited to partner with CS Hudson to launch this incredible new kind of pop-up experience,” says Linda Johansen-James, CEO and founder of IRG. “CS Hudson and IRG have done extraordinary things when it comes to pop-ups and both companies know how to bring communities together and think outside the box.”

CS Hudson and IRG will release more R_Evolution pop-up shop information in the coming weeks, including exclusive retailer, sponsorship and partnership opportunities. To learn more about the opportunities available, please contact Linda Johansen-James, ljohansen-james@inrmcg.com, or Joseph Scaretta, jscaretta@cs-hudson.com. For more information visit, www.r-evolutionpopup.com.

“We are creating R_Evolution with the goal of developing a best-in-class rotating pop-up experience unrivaled by others in the retail industry,” continues Scaretta. “CS Hudson and IRG plan to flip retail on its head with the launch of R_Evolution. This is only the beginning.”

About CS Hudson: CS Hudson – a leader in experiential pop-ups, shop-in-shops and marketing activations specializing in turnkey services and purpose-built solutions nationwide. Innovative, resourceful, versatile and creative, CS Hudson’s experienced professionals are renowned throughout the industry for their expertise in developing, implementing and managing immersive experiential, capital refresh and facility projects within the retail, restaurant, healthcare and commercial sectors. Working throughout the U.S. with companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500s, CS Hudson provides a tailored approach to meet the needs of its clients, all with unique concepts, brands, budgets, challenges and goals. For more information on our full-service solutions, visit www.cs-hudson.com/experiential.

About International Retail Management and Consulting Group: International Retail Group Pop-Up (IRG) is a trusted leader in direct-to-consumer retail operations, pop-up locations and carts, kiosks for some of the world’s top brands—perfecting the art of specialty retail marketing with direct experience in the operation of more than 1,000 locations and automated retail locations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Headquartered in Las Vegas, IRG evolved from the largest owner-operated specialty retailer in the world, American Kiosk Management (AKM), which proudly served over 52 million guests, amassing more than $1.7 billion in sales for Proactiv®, the company’s most prominent client. Their customized specialty retail marketing includes testing, launching and operating multiple pop-ups, carts, and kiosks for leading companies, including Guthy-Renker, Blue Moon Hemp/Swiss Relief, One Two Cosmetics®, ABC Mouse, Revlon, Solar City, Vivint Solar, Great Foods, and Hess Toy Trucks to just name a few. For more information about IRG, please visit www.irg-retail.com.

OAK BROOK, Illinois (July 1, 2019) – Let’s Pave, a leading national provider of specialized paving services and solutions, is pleased to announce the company has selected Saw Mill Capital Partners II, LP and affiliated private equity investment funds managed by Saw Mill Capital LLC (“Saw Mill”) as its financial and strategic partner. The management team at Let’s Pave will retain significant ownership and continue to lead the business going forward. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. 

C.B. Kuzlik, CEO and Founder of Let’s Pave, commented, “Our partnership with Saw Mill Capital represents a great step forward for Let’s Pave. The Saw Mill team brings significant facilities maintenance expertise, actionable strategic account relationships, and a strong suite of research, technology, and resources to support Let’s Pave’s continued growth. We are excited to find a partner that shares our vision and commitment to delivering the highest quality parking lot maintenance service and creating significant value for our customers.”

Tim Nelson, a Partner at Saw Mill Capital, said, “We are excited to partner with Let’s Pave to accelerate the penetration of the company’s innovative business model across the U.S.  Let’s Pave’s leadership team has built an impressive organization and extensive network of local paving partners over a short period, and we look forward to partnering with the company in realizing its growth potential.”
 
Pictured from L to R: Mike Rosen (Let’s Pave), Peter Holton (Caber Hill Advisors), Nick Kuzlik (Let’s Pave), C.B. Kuzlik (Let’s Pave), Tim Nelson (Saw Mill Capital), Todd Earnest (Climate Pros), Mike Zator (Let’s Pave)

ABOUT SAW MILL CAPITAL:
Based in Briarcliff Manor, New York, Saw Mill Capital is a private equity firm that acquires industrial and commercial service, specialty distribution and manufacturing businesses with enterprise values of $25 million to $200 million. Since 1997, Saw Mill Capital has been partnering with management teams to help successful businesses reach their full potential.

ABOUT LET’S PAVE: 
Let’s Pave provides complete preventative and structural parking lot maintenance services to commercial and industrial properties nationwide as well as partner solutions including pavement planning, contractor procurement, and project management.  Supported by a team of experienced professionals, each with a long history of serving in the national parking lot management industry, Let’s Pave offers unmatched service and quality, all at a lower cost and better value than other paving companies.  For more information, visit www.letspave.com. 
 
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