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Sterling draws on operational savvy in sale of West Star Aviation to Greenbriar; PE firms still like pest control

Good morning, Hubsters! Rafael Canton here with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.

Exits are proving elusive this year, so we're paying a lot of attention to them. Today, we're beginning the Wire with a sale. Earlier on Wednesday, PE Hub’s Michael Schoeck was the first to report that Greenbriar Equity Group has acquired West Star Aviation from the Sterling Group.

Then, we’ve noticed a few pest control services deals recently from firms like TSCP and GTCR. Let’s take a look at why we’ve seen deals in the subsector over the past year.

We’ll finish up with insights on the consumer sector from a panel I attended last week at the ONE Houlihan Lokey Global Conference in New York.

Exits on exits

Let’s begin with a scoop. PE Hub senior reporter Michael Schoeck was first to report that Greenbriar Equity Group has acquired West Star Aviation from the Sterling Group earlier on Wednesday.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to learn more about the sale process and the Sterling Group’s other recent exits.

Pest control

There’s been active dealmaking in the consumer services sector. One example is pest control services.

PE Hub has seen pest control services deals throughout the past year. One deal I covered in the subsector in 2024 was Citation Capital’s acquisition of pest control services company Aptive.

Premium Wire readers can gain insights from Citation Capital about why pest control service deals are attractive to PE firms and the recent deals in pest control services.

Projecting the consumer sector

One of the sectors most affected by the uncertainty has been consumer. Last week, I attended the ONE Houlihan Lokey Global Conference in New York. One of the panels during the conference centered around how tariffs and other factors are affecting the dealmaking process in the consumer sector.

PE Hub has seen a few deals involving consumer brands. In May, 3G Capital acquired footwear brand Skechers in a $9 billion take-private deal.

Also in May, Brynwood Partners-backed Hometown Food Co acquired the Chef Boyardee brand from Conagra Brands for $600 million. In February, Vestar sold snacks brand Simple Mills to Flowers Foods for $795 million.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire to see an insight from the panel on the consumer sector.

That’s it for me. If you have any questions, thoughts, or want to chat about deals in the tech, consumer or sports sectors, please email me at [email protected].

Tomorrow, Nina Lindholm will be with you for the Europe edition of the Wire and Michael Schoeck will bring you the US edition.

Cheers,

Rafael

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Private equity is showing “selective but strong” interest in the industrials sector, despite uncertainty around the imposition of US tariffs, Guillaume Suizdak, co-head of European industrials at Lincoln International, told PE Hub.

Arcline Investment Management, which has experienced rapid growth since its founding in 2018, has amassed just over $4 billion for its fourth fund in a matter of months – an impressive showing in the sluggish fundraising environment that is especially challenging for newer managers. (Buyouts)

In the latest episode of The Infrastructure Investor Podcast, editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Partners Group’s head of infrastructure, Esther Peiner, to talk about the importance of resilience, investing through the current volatility, the impact of sticky inflation, and more.

StepStone, the sixth biggest secondaries investor according to SI 50, is expanding its suite of evergreen funds with a new private equity vehicle targeting private wealth investors. (Secondaries Investor)

The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System launched a new strategic partnership with Barings with an emphasis on both mid-market opportunities and boosting business within the state. The SRPS has $69.53 billion of AUM, and will be trusting Barings with the new $250 million Terrapin Middle Market Infrastructure Fund, which falls under its real assets program. (Infrastructure Investor)

When it comes to the energy transition, geopolitical and macroeceonomic headwinds are “driving investors into a narrower set of opportunities, where the unit economics can really speak for themselves”, according to Imraan Mohammed, who leads the £2.6 billion Climate Opportunities Strategy at UK pension pool Border to Coast Pensions Partnership. (New Private Markets)

The sustainable finance sector needs to “raise ambition and act” if it wants to overcome its current condition and address the challenges it faces in the coming years, according to David Blood, senior partner at Generation Investment Management. “We’re stuck as a community. We need to get ourselves unstuck,” Blood said during an address at PEI Group's Impact Investor Global Summit in London on Tuesday.

Germany’s regional PE industry remains frustrated at the lack of progress on the interpretation of offshore fund domiciling by GPs based in Bavaria, the country’s largest state. An apparent stream of staff changes and departures at the Bavaria prosecutor’s office have stalled investigations, sources have told Private Equity International.

Deals

They said it

“Pest control is a very attractive category within the residential services sector. There are a few drivers of growth including increasing millennial homeownership, people spending more time at home and a shift away from ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) to ‘do it for me.’”

— Tiffany Hagge, founder and managing partner, Citation Capital on why pest control services is attractive to PE

Today's letter was prepared by Rafael Canton

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