ValleyCrest Cos. Aug. 20 agreement to purchase the Omni Landscape Group, South Plainfield, N.J., for an undisclosed amount is viewed by executives of the Calabasas, Calif.-based landscape firm as an opportunity to expand its presence in new and existing markets by taking over Omni’s Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Destin, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala., operations.
"We’ve been in Atlanta, but this gives us the top market position in the Atlanta marketplace," says Roger Zino, president, ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance. "Washington, D.C. is a thriving and growing area, and we have a strong presence there but not as much in the commercial market so this balances our portfolio. It’s a very nice compliment to our book of business."
The acquisition also introduces ValleyCrest to the Philadelphia area and the East Coast, which Zino says is one of the last major markets the company is not fully servicing. ValleyCrest plans to utilize Omni’s existing facilities in these regions.
The acquisition will add 600 to 700 Omni employees to ValleyCrest’s workforce, making the transition effort easier for customers. "We’re going to take care of those customers, and we want the customers to know that they’re going to get the same people at their doorstep and the same service that they had before, hopefully with some renewed energy and renewed vigor, and they should expect at least what they’ve seen, if not more, going forward," Zino says.
To better service these new markets, ValleyCrest will survey its new customers to determine their expectations. The company is also assessing Omni’s equipment and plans to invest millions of dollars in upgrades, according to Zino.
"Everyone who I have visited has told me what is important is the people who they interact with on a daily basis, and as long as those people stay the same and as long as the service is the same, they don’t care what color the uniforms are or what names are on the truck," says George Morrell, Omni consultant and founder of the Atlanta-based Morrell Group, which Omni acquired in 1999.
ValleyCrest has never purchased a company in bankruptcy before. When asked how buying a company in bankruptcy differs from its previous acquisitions, ValleyCrest CEO Burton Sperber said: "We don’t know how it will turn out. It’s yet to be seen. It’s certainly different. We know it’s going to be good for the employees and customers. What it’s going to be for us, we have yet to learn, so our fingers are crossed on that."
After Omni filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June, ValleyCrest immediately seized the opportunity based on Omni's and The Morrell Group's reputation in the green industry.
Omni’s other divisions contributed more to the company’s bankruptcy than the landscape operations, says ValleyCrest President Richard Sperber. "The Omni Group as a whole didn’t go out of business because of the Omni Landscape Division," Richard Sperber says. "It went into bankruptcy for decisions they made in their other businesses that they ran. The landscape group was the shining star in that sinking ship."
ValleyCrest plans to take advantage of The Morrell Group’s reputation as a leader in the turf industry by learning from its success and transferring that into ValleyCrest’s business practices, Richard Sperber says. "Our whole company is very excited about it because it gives us an opportunity to learn about another company that did a really good job out there that was a competitor of ours for many years – how they did it and what they did right," Richard Sperber says.
As for possible future acquisitions, there’s currently nothing on ValleyCrest’s radar screen, according to Richard Sperber. "We’re on the conservative side as far as how many acquisitions we like to do in a year," he says. "We’ve never done more than one or two a year." – Jonathan Katz
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