Horizon heating-plumbing-AC service sold to private-equity firm, will speed new deals

Horizon Services, whose 500 home plumbers, furnace and air conditioning mechanics and other staff cruise the company's orange utility trucks in neighborhoods along I-95 from Connecticut to Maryland, has been purchased by Sun Capital, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based buyout firm.

Sun, which also owns Philadelphia-based PaperWorks, Boston Market, Johnny Rockets, and dozens more U.S. companies -- it targets firms with at least $50 million in yearly sales -- says it plans to expand Horizon by buying up more small service firms. 

Horizon owners Mark Aitken and Dave Geiger have been looking for a buyer since 2015, they said in a statement this morning. The firm is based in Wilmington, Del., with branches in Norristown, Mount Laurel, and other towns.

Sun declined to say how much it paid for Horizon. "If the sale price were greater than half (Horizon's) revenue, I would be surprised," Bob Whalen, owner of H.B. McClure, a Harrisburg home and commercial HVAC contractor. McClure, like Horizon, has around 500 employees; its yearly sales to residential and commercial customers total around $80 million.

Geiger and Aitken, who grew Horizon (founded 1987) by buying smaller firms from Connecticut to Maryland,  "believe our company is primed for growth with the right partner and resources," he said in a statement. The firm calls itself "the region's largest and most-referred home-services company."

Sun Capital owns at least a couple of firms that could sell services to Horizon, including Spectralink (mobile communications) and Bundy Refrigeration (cooling fluid systems).

The Philadelphia law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP advised Sun. Horizon was advised by STS Capital Partners.