Quick Stats
- Leadership: Kurt & Matt Bland
- Prospect Team: Erik Maurer, Brad O’Dell
- Location: Apex, NC
- Industry: Specialty Service (B2B)
- Investment Date: December 2017
- Exit Date: Active
Overview
Bland Landscaping provides a comprehensive suite of premium landscaping services to commercial clients, such as class A offices, HOAs, municipalities, and industrial centers. Bland is a premier provider of commercial maintenance landscaping services in the Southeast, with a market-leading position in North Carolina.
Our active investment in Bland is a great example of how we back strong management teams and help them build a scalable organization that can capitalize on geographic expansion opportunities through internal investment as well as add-on acquisitions.
We were introduced to Kurt and Matt Bland, the second-generation leaders of Bland, via a landscaping industry-focused investment banker. Kurt and Matt were looking for a partner to help them capitalize on growth opportunities that required additional capital and serve as an active partner as they expanded the Bland platform across the Carolinas. Kurt and Matt selected us as their partner because of our willingness to structure a transaction that gave their management team the opportunity to retain significant ownership in the business and collaborate on a shared vision for the company.
Partnership Rationale
We saw a very talented, ambitious, family-led leadership team providing a high-quality, recurring service with a proven playbook for profitable growth in an attractive region of the country. Due to the company’s exceptional service, Bland had excellent contract retention levels. As a result, Prospect Partners made a control-equity investment in Bland and is focused on leveraging Bland’s strong reputation in the fragmented commercial landscaping market to grow both organically and through acquisitions.
Growth Initiatives
- Mapped the market and performed initial outreach to hundreds of potential add-on targets in Bland’s territories
- Completed six add-on acquisitions with a deep pipeline of identified opportunities
- Established an external sales team, and invested in training and systems to accelerate contract growth
- Entered new contiguous geographic markets
- Expanded service offering to include a broad spectrum of aquatic services, including lake, pond, stormwater, and fishery management
Strategic Partnership
- Strong partnership formed with Kurt and Matt Bland and the rest of the senior team
- Implemented first equity incentive program for other key managers
- Developed structured board reporting package with appropriate KPIs and metrics
Infrastructure Building
- Building upon a strong existing financial organization, completed first external audit and upgraded financial reporting package
- Continuing to enhance the company’s industry-specific IT platform with modules and capabilities including integration with CRM tools
- Implementing enhanced account management systems across branches to maintain industry-leading retention levels
Management Team Additions
- Implemented branch management structure, freeing up senior management to focus more on growth and strategy
- Added first outside salespeople and recruited industry VP of Sales to lead the growing sales team
- Built out finance organization to include an experienced VP of Finance, allowing senior management to spend more time on operations and provide real-time data to the branches and sales team
Let's Talk Potential