Irvine’s Linc Group LLC, which runs a mix of building maintenance service companies, was acquired by New York-based ABM Industries Inc. for $300 million.
The cash deal, announced late Wednesday, already has closed.
Linc Group, via a nationwide network of subsidiaries, helps building operators cut costs, reduce power consumption and run more efficiently.
“Acquiring a firm of Linc Group’s quality transforms our engineering and energy business overnight and completely differentiates us from our competitors,” ABM’s Chief Executive Henrik Slipsager said. “The combined engineering operations will be close to $1 billion in revenues.”
Linc saw $579 million in 2009 sales, the company said.
Chief Executive Tracy Price is set to continue running the unit as president of AMB’s engineering group in Irvine.
Price sold an earlier venture, FieldCentrix Inc. in Irvine, to Houston-based energy trading company Enron in 2001.
A decade earlier, Price drew up plans for FieldCentrix’s software and computer systems for field-service technicians on a napkin.
Enron started unraveling soon after the acquisition. Price spent two years extracting the business from Enron.
He found a white knight in GI Partners of Menlo Park, a private equity firm which led a buyout of the business in 2003.
Price returned to Irvine with Linc, which specializes in “bundled energy solutions” that involve retrofitting buildings to save energy and cut costs over time.
ABM operates in four units: janitorial, parking, security and engineering.
The company helps manage offices, industrial buildings, shopping centers, warehouses, airport terminals, gyms, schools, parking garages, stadiums and government buildings.
Publicly traded ABM sees about $3.5 billion in yearly sales and had a recent market value of $1.2 billion.
