Warren Equity Partners, a lower middle market private equity fund, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Magnolia River International, Inc. Based in Decatur, Ala., Magnolia River is a premier engineering, inspection, GIS, software, and consulting company focused on the utilities, oil and gas, water, and pipeline infrastructure industries. Warren Equity acquired a majority interest in Magnolia River from Founder Ronnie Hoff and other shareholders. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We are very excited to partner with the Magnolia River team. Over its 20-year history, the company has become a leading provider of infrastructure inspection services with a strong reputation for safety, service and technical expertise,” said Steven Wacaster, managing partner at Warren Equity.
The company offers technology-enabled underground infrastructure services to more than 50 investor-owned utilities, municipalities and industrial customers across 25 states. Magnolia River leverages a highly-trained and certified base of in-house inspectors, engineers, and GIS professionals across 13 offices to support its customers’ pipeline replacement, deployment, and integrity management requirements. The company supplements its services with proprietary software solutions (including flagship platforms FlowGIS™ and FieldLogIQ™) designed to help customers reduce costs, optimize field operations, boost data management and ensure regulatory compliance.
“We chose to partner with Warren Equity because of their utility and industrial services expertise, proven track record of scaling similar business models and strong cultural fit,” said Heath McCleskey, president and board member of Magnolia River. “With Warren Equity, we have found a value-add partner who will help us execute our strategic growth plan and who shares our vision of making the world safer by providing innovative solutions to the utility infrastructure industry.”
“We are proud to partner with a firm who is strongly aligned with the culture and values of Magnolia River and who will provide valuable stewardship during our next phase of growth,” added Magnolia River Founder Ronnie Hoff.
“Magnolia River sits at the intersection of several, compelling industry tailwinds including continued investment in infrastructure safety and efficiency; growing adoption of technology and technology-enabled services to track utility asset performance and optimize field operations; and increasing demand for outsourced services,” added Michael Ouyang, Vice President at Warren Equity. “We look forward to working with management to continue to drive organic growth and deploy an effective acquisition strategy in this highly fragmented market.”
This transaction represents Warren Equity Partners’ 14th platform investment and 45th acquisition since its formation in mid-2015.
