CALABASAS, Calif. - Environmental Industries Inc. (EII), parent company of national landscape maintenance company Environmental Care, announced today, Feb. 16, 2001, that it has acquired Fullbach Services Inc., a $10 million dollar landscape maintenance company headquartered in Louisville, Ky. and operating in a four-state network that also includes branches in Illinois, Missouri and Michigan.
Fullbach will operate under EII’s landscape maintenance umbrella as Fullbach/Environmental Care. Fullbach’s owner, Ted Ennenbach, will become vice president and regional manager of Environmental Care’s new Midwest organization. Environmental Care Vice President Brian Storm (pictured above left with Fullbach Founder Ted Ennenbach [middle] and EII Sr. Vice President Richard Klein [right]) will be EII’s management liaison and oversee integration efforts. Fullbach management and employees will be retained in their present roles, and no major changes are anticipated. Financial terms were not disclosed.
This is EII’s third acquisition in a strategic growth market during the past 12 months. It follows the February 2000 acquisition of STM in Oakton, Va. (see Environmental Industries Announces Acquisitions), and the December 2000 acquisition of North Haven Gardens in Dallas, Texas (see Environmental Industries Acquires North Haven Gardens). “This venture creates considerable market opportunities for EII,” said Richard Sperber, EII’s Sr. vice president and chief operating officer. “It gives our company a stronger national presence and an operations base for pursuing large landscape projects. With this acquisition, we can provide superb competitive advantages to a larger segment of the business community and dramatically expand our reach throughout Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan and Missouri.”
Announcing the news simultaneously, Sperber’s comments were echoed by Ted Ennenbach, Fullbach’s founder. In a meeting with his employees, Ennenbach said, “This union creates a well-rounded company. With EII’s considerable resources and purchasing power behind us, our new Midwest organization becomes a locally-oriented provider of national influence.”
Ennenbach continued, “This merger gives us an opportunity to service national accounts in additional states and offer expanded resources, cross organizational support and fully integrated landscape services.”
Founded as Valley Crest Landscape Nurseries Inc. in 1949, EII employs 5,500 people nationwide. Its five operating divisions include Environmental Care, a landscape maintenance, irrigation, water management and professional tree care services company; Environmental Golf, a builder, course maintenance provider and operations manager of golf courses across the U.S.; Valley Crest, a site development, pre-construction and landscape services company; Valley Crest Tree Company, a grower of containerized specimen trees; and U. S. Lawns, a franchise landscape maintenance company. With the acquisition of Fullbach Services, EII projects annual revenues in excess of a half-billion dollars a year.
For more information about the company visit www.envind.com.