Strategies
APi Group CEO Sees Elevator Services as Future Profit Source
The company brands include numerous mechanical and fire safety firms
Two elevator machinist/technicians at work inside an elevator shaft.
Photo: kadmy via Getty Images
Specialty contractor giant APi Group, whose holdings include N.J.-based heavy contractor J. Fletcher Creamer & Son and Minn.-based fabricator LeJeune Steel, has had a concentration of firms in mechanical and fire safety services. Now the parent company has added an elevator services contractor to its collection of companies and intends to acquire more.
In April, New Brighton, Minn.-based APi paid $570 million for Elevated Facilities Services Group. The acquisition was made while also carrying out a refinancing that included fresh stock offerings.
Russell Becker, chief executive, told investors at an earnings conference call last month that APi has "long viewed the elevator and escalator service market as an attractive adjacency due to the highly recurring nature of the business, driven by nondiscretionary statutorily driven demand."
In other words, laws and regulations require elevators to be safely built and maintained.
Net income for the first quarter of 2024 is sharply higher, the company reported. APi Group (NYSE: APG) said it had net income of $45 million on $1.6 billion in revenue, compared to $26 million on $1.61 billion in the prior year.
The company is among several other large specialty engineering and construction-related holding companies—such as Quanta Services and Emcor Group—that combine established firms with known brands and customers under a single corporate roof. With $6.55 billion in reported 2022 revenue, APi ranked third on ENR's Top 600 Specialty Contractors, behind Quanta and Emcor.
Tampa-based Elevated Facilities Services joins a stable of brands at APi that already includes—in addition to J. Fletcher Creamer and LeJeune Steel—numerous mechanical and fire-safety system contractors and service companies, a specialty contractor supply-chain services firm and a garage door installation contractor.
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Becker told investors APi intends "to build a $1 billion-plus elevator and escalator services platform over the long term" through organic growth; cross-selling with APi's life-safety businesses "and a robust M&A pipeline."
The company's recent financial changes are complex and involved an offering of shares held by two investors and a follow-on offering for 12.65 million shares sold by the company, which brought in $450 million in net proceeds. APi also took a $550-million term loan due in 2029 that it expects to use to refinance a $330-million term loan due in 2026. The company also repaid $100 million of outstanding revolving line of credit balances.
The proceeds from the refinancings will be used for general corporate purposes, including partially funding the acquisition of Elevated.
The financial changes put the company in a position to execute "a robust M&A pipeline," said Chief Financial Officer Kevin Krumm.
