If you are a business broker or intermediary representing a seller in the lower-middle market, you understand the challenge of finding qualified buyers who close. Plenty of buyers express interest. Fewer have their financing together. Fewer still have the operational background to satisfy lenders and actually run what they acquire.
Ridge and Valley Holdings was built to be the kind of buyer brokers want to work with. Here is exactly what we are looking for, and how we approach broker relationships.
Our Acquisition Criteria
We are looking for established service businesses that meet the following parameters:
- Annual Revenue between $7M and $30M
- Adjusted EBITDA between $1.5M and $6M
- Enterprise Value of $7M to $50M per acquisition
- 3+ years of operating history with consistent or growing revenue
- Service business in HVAC, pest control, lawn care, plumbing, or electrical (with selective interest in staffing as an adjacent vertical)
- No single customer exceeding 25% of total revenue
- Clean, verifiable financials across three years
- Seller willing to remain for a 30 to 60 day transition period
- No active litigation and no material deferred maintenance
What We Bring to the Table
How we finance acquisitions
Each acquisition is financed with a tailored combination of senior debt, equity, and seller financing, structured to fit the specific deal. We work from a defined network of lender and equity relationships active in service-trade acquisitions in the Southeast.
Two qualified operators
Ridge and Valley Holdings is operated by two founders with directly relevant backgrounds. One brings clinical operations experience: process documentation, quality systems, people management, regulatory compliance. The other brings technology and revenue growth experience: CRM, digital marketing, loyalty programs, financial reporting. Lenders respond well to operator backgrounds that match the acquisition target.
Disciplined underwriting
We do not sign LOIs on businesses that do not fit our criteria. We do not submit offers we cannot finance. For standard deals, we target 90 days from signed LOI to closing. Larger or multi-entity transactions may take longer, with diligence extending up to 6 months.
Industries We Are Most Active In
We focus on five core recession-resilient service trades, with selective interest in staffing as an adjacent vertical:
- HVAC
- Pest control
- Lawn care
- Plumbing
- Electrical
- Staffing and workforce placement (selectively evaluated as an adjacent vertical)
The Ideal Seller Profile
Beyond the financial criteria, we do our best work with sellers who:
- Are motivated by retirement or a life transition, not distress
- Care about what happens to their employees and customers
- Are willing to stay for a proper transition period
- Have been transparent with their financials over the years
These are the businesses we will fight to acquire, and that we will take the best care of after closing.
We honor your fee arrangements without negotiation. We maintain strict confidentiality on all introductions. We communicate clearly throughout the process, including if we decide a business is not right for us.