Calif. company acquires Yearout Mechanical
Purchase marks the latest by equity-backed firms
A private equity-backed California company has acquired Albuquerque-based Yearout Mechanical, Inc., and its sister firm, Yearout Services LLC.
Therma Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital in Connecticut, announced the purchase Tuesday in a news release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Yearout Mechanical and Yearout Services together provide mechanical, fabrication and maintenance services.
In an interview with the Journal, Yearout Mechanical President Kevin Yearout said the deal appealed to him because it allowed the companies to maintain their relationship with the union to which their employees belong and created a succession path for existing management to eventually be replaced by new leaders within the firms.
“The question that always hovered over our succession planning was . . . ‘How do we come up with a whole bunch of money to buy out our existing managers?’” said Yearout. “This killed two birds with one stone.”
Yearout said the purchase closed in December and that he will remain in his position for a minimum of five years. He said most operations will appear unchanged to employees and customers, and that employees and their families will continue to have their health care insurance premiums fully covered by the firms.
Therma declined to comment beyond the information contained in its press release. In the release, Therma CEO Joe Parsi called Yearout Mechanical “an established company with a great reputation with customers and general contractors in the New Mexico market and . . . an excellent fit with Therma’s growth strategy.”
Gemspring did not respond to a request for comment.
The Yearout Mechanical acquisition is the latest in a string of New Mexico investments by private equity-backed firms. In September, Fullsteam Operations LLC, a holding company created by New Yorkbased Aquiline Capital Partners, bought Albuquerque-based software firm Event Rental Systems. In December, Fullsteam acquired ticketing software company HoldMyTicket, also based in Albuquerque.
The terms of both transactions were undisclosed.
Yearout said it’s clear the private equity community has begun taking a greater interest in New Mexico businesses after years of activity in neighboring states.
“It’s finally getting to us,” he said.