Roark acquires cleaner for $1.55B

Investment fund adding ServiceMaster to stable of businesses.

ServiceMaster, a provider of home-cleaning and water-damage services, has agreed to a sale to the Atlanta investment fund Roark Capital for about $1.55 billion.

ServiceMaster Global Holdings will sell its residential and commercial cleaning and disaster-recovery businesses to Roark, but retain its much-larger Terminix pest-control subsidiary, according to a news release Wednesday.

Roark will acquire ServiceMaster-branded businesses, plus the Merry Maids chain of home cleaners and the AmeriSpec home inspection business. The brands that Roark will purchase recorded a total of $63 million in sales in the second quarter of this year.

Roark is known for its stable of franchised brands such as Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings, and its portfolio of restaurant brands has made it larger than both Chickfil-A and Waffle House, measured by sales.

Last November, Roark acquired the Jimmy John’s chain of sandwich shops and in April it made a $200 million investment in The Cheesecake Factory.

Roark also owns franchised businesses that are not in the restaurant space, including Anytime Fitness, Pet Supermarket and Primrose Schools, a network of child-care centers.

ServiceMaster Global Holdings, based in Memphis, Tennessee, will change its name to Terminix after the deal closes. Terminix recorded $534 million in second-quarter sales.

It said it expects the Roark transaction to close in approximately 30 to 60 days, subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions.