Gridiron Capital, LLC, a private investment firm, is pleased to announce Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK), a leading global real estate services firm, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Quality Solutions, Inc., a leading asset light facilities management provider. The acquisition of QSI will expand Cushman & Wakefield’s facility management capabilities across North American markets.
Headquartered in Wichita, QSI offers facilities maintenance and managed services in over 75 trades to 110,000+ locations across various end markets, through over 50,000 qualified vendors. The Company’s integrated, one-stop solution reduces a client’s total cost of ownership and enables clients to strategic plan effectively. Gridiron Capital originally invested in QSI in 2012 and partnered with the Company to build a scalable operating platform and expand its service offering and geographic presence to accelerate growth. Through its partnership with Gridiron Capital, QSI achieved impressive market share expansion via organic growth and multiple add-on acquisitions. The Company aggressively pursued and won new customers in new verticals, and with the add-ons, further expanded the Company’s customer and vendor base and service offering.
Gridiron Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Tom Burger said, “We have enjoyed partnering with the QSI management team the past six years and are proud of their significant growth, the platform capabilities they have built, and their success in becoming an industry leader. Cushman & Wakefield is acquiring a great business with capabilities among the best in the industry. We are grateful for the trust QSI’s founder had in us to reinvest back into the business and continue his involvement with us as a Director on the Board of QSI.”
Eric Crabb, CEO of QSI, remarked that, “Gridiron Capital’s support enabled us to take a dramatic step forward as a business, Gridiron Capital supported QSI in enhancing a best-in-class management team, bringing experienced industry executives to our Board of Directors, and helping us uncover accretive add-on opportunities to supplement our organic growth. We are a stronger company today as a result of this partnership.”
Scott Harrison, Managing Director of Gridiron Capital and Board member of QSI, added, “We are fortunate to have worked with such a strong and capable team at QSI and are proud of the success they have achieved. We have enjoyed building a strong partnership with this management team, and we look forward to QSI continuing its growth trajectory as an industry-leading provider of facilities management solutions with Cushman & Wakefield.”
The acquisition of QSI is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of all applicable antitrust approvals.
QSI was advised by Piper Jaffray and Finn Dixon & Herling LLP.
About Quality Solutions, Inc.
Located in the nation’s heartland just outside Wichita, Kansas, QSI has grown over the past two decades to become one of the nation’s top-performing providers of on-demand facilities maintenance and construction services. QSI’s clients include premier brands in retail, food service, commercial/industrial real estate and many other market segments. Last year, QSI completed more than 250,000 work orders covering 75 skilled trades at 100,000+ client locations in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. QSI’s Six Sigma trained project teams take a data-driven approach to working with clients and their network of high-performance field service partners to measure, manage and improve facilities performance and cost control. Visit https://www.qsifacilities.com for more information.
About Gridiron Capital, LLC
Gridiron Capital is an investment firm focused on partnering with founders and management teams, and creating value by building middle-market companies into industry-leaders in branded consumer, B2B and B2C services, and niche industrial segments in the United States and Canada. We help transform growing companies through hard work, partnerships grounded in shared values and a unique culture that comes from hands-on experience building and running businesses. As a team led by former operators and entrepreneurs, we know what it takes to run successful businesses on a day-to-day basis. Additional information is available on the firm’s website: https://gridironcapital.com/
