Rentokil Acquires Oliver Exterminating Corp.

MIAMI — Rentokil has acquired Oliver Exterminating Corp., which includes entities Arizona Exterminating, Guarantee Floridian Pest Control and Oliver Exterminating of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The deal closed on Nov. 1; terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition of Oliver Exterminating Corp., a $32.5 million business, greatly expands Rentokil’s footprint in Arizona and Florida and marks the company’s first entry into the Caribbean. Oliver has 16 offices — including four in Florida, five in Arizona, six in Puerto Rico and one in the Dominican Republic — and employs 371 people.

Oliver had been owned by Olivier Grinda and his family since 1982. Grinda’s minority partner had been industry veteran Larry Weinberg; he retired in 2003, at which point Bert Putterman, who had been with the business since 1989, took over as president and CEO. Putterman told PCT that a few years ago Grinda had turned Oliver over to his children, and that the family decided to exit pest control in order to focus on its other holdings.

Putterman, 62, will continue to run the Oliver operation, including representing the company within NPMA. Rentokil and Oliver are still working through transition plans, but currently he has been spending significant time in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, markets where Oliver has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, and one that is new to Rentokil. In fact, Putterman recently was named vice president of the Puerto Rico and Dominican Markets. Also being retained is Putterman’s long-tenured management team, including Doug Wyly (Arizona Exterminating); Nick Garcia (Guarantee Floridian); and Michael Holston (Oliver, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic).

Putterman said he is excited about future opportunities for his team. “One of the things that happens in companies, is that unless you are growing dynamically, upward advancement becomes frozen,” he said. “With Rentokil there is a ton of opportunities, so it provides a lot of talented people on the Oliver side with room to move.”

At press time, Rentokil could not comment on the acquisition due to UK regulatory rules.

Tullius Partners acted as financial adviser to Oliver Exterminating Corp. — Brad Harbison

DuPont, Dow to Combine in Merger of Equals

WILMINGTON, Del. and MIDLAND, Mich. — DuPont and The Dow Chemical Company last month announced their boards of directors unanimously approved a definitive agreement under which the companies will combine in an all-stock merger of equals. The combined company will be named DowDuPont. A press release from the companies noted that they intend to subsequently pursue a separation of DowDuPont into three independent, publicly traded companies through tax-free spin-offs. This would occur as soon as feasible, which is expected to be 18 to 24 months following the closing of the merger, subject to regulatory and board approval.

The companies will include a global agriculture company; a global material science company; and a specialty products company. “This transaction is a game-changer for our industry and reflects the culmination of a vision we have had for more than a decade to bring together these two powerful innovation and material science leaders,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Over the last decade our entire industry has experienced tectonic shifts as an evolving world presented complex challenges and opportunities — requiring each company to exercise foresight, agility and focus on execution. This transaction is a major accelerator in Dow’s ongoing transformation, and through this we are creating significant value and three powerful new companies. This merger of equals significantly enhances the growth profile for both companies, while driving value for all of our shareholders and our customers.”

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to deliver long-term, sustainable shareholder value through the combination of two highly complementary global leaders and the creation of three strong, focused, industry-leading businesses. Each of these businesses will be able to allocate capital more effectively, apply its powerful innovation more productively, and extend its value-added products and solutions to more customers worldwide,” said Edward D. Breen, chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont.

Upon completion of the transaction, Liveris, president, chairman and CEO of Dow, will become executive chairman of the newly formed DowDuPont board of directors and Breen, chair and CEO of DuPont, will become chief executive officer of DowDuPont. In these roles, both Liveris and Breen will report to the board of directors.

Following the closing of the transaction, DowDuPont will have dual headquarters in Midland, Mich., and Wilmington, Del.

Liphatech Announces PestWorld 2015 Winners

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Liphatech’s Links Soft Bait Golf Challenge returned to PestWorld 2015 in Nashville, Tenn., in which booth attendees tried to sink a 10-foot putt on a green for a variety of popular prizes. Golfers navigated Aegis bait station, FirstStrike and Resolv obstacles. Those that made the putt were also entered in a drawing for a chance to win a $1,000. The winner was Greg Ricker, Excel Pest Control, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Inspired by the visit to Music City, PestWorld attendees could also guess the number of guitar picks in a clear Aegis-RP bait station for a chance to win a $100 American Express gift card. The individual with the winning guess was Malcolm Palmer from Terminix in Memphis.

“PestWorld again provided a great platform to connect with many from our industry,” remarked Manny Martinez, Liphatech CEO. “Thank you to everyone who visited our booth and congrats to the winners!”

Syngenta Enhances Website to Suit Business Needs of PMPs

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Syngenta Professional Pest Management has updated and enhanced its website, www.syngentapmp.com, to better suit the business needs of PMPs across the country. PMPs can now access product information, read technical articles, find labels/SDSs and other information through a design that works across mobile, tablet and all other devices.

On the homepage, users will be prompted to select one of three main business categories — residential, commercial or farm pest control. They can then select the desired pest or application preference within a particular business category, which will take them to a page recommending Syngenta PPM products and solutions best tailored for their business needs.

“Similar to searching a car dealership’s website for specific features, like leather seats or a navigation system, we built the new syngentapmp.com to help PMPs easily find the solutions they need,” said Pat Willenbrock, head of marketing, Professional Pest Management, for Syngenta in North America. “For example, if a PMP is interested in quarterly outdoor perimeter spray options for ant control on residential accounts, he or she can easily navigate to those specific recommendations on our website.”

The website also offers a new section to easily subscribe to the monthly PMP Solutions e-Newsletter, which includes information on the latest Syngenta PPM program offers, technical articles written by industry experts and product updates.

The new website is now mobile-responsive, allowing users to easily navigate from any device. In addition to the new site features, many popular resources from the previous website remain intact, allowing users to more easily look for labels and SDSs or search by product type or target pest.

To experience the newly enhanced website and discover pest solutions tailored for your business needs, visit www.syngentapmp.com.

Bayer, EnviroPest Join Forces to Treat Colorado Non-Profit Hearts & Horses

LOVELAND, Colo. — The Bayer and EnviroPest teams partnered together to treat flies at a local non-profit in Loveland, Colorado — Hearts & Horses. Since its inception in 2012, the Bayer Maxforce on a Mission initiative has provided support to communities and non-profit organizations around the country by partnering with pest management companies to donate professional pest control products and services to those in need. Bayer recently partnered with EnviroPest to provide treatment to Hearts & Horses, a non-profit in Loveland, Colorado. Bayer donated a variety of solutions, including Maxforce Fly Spot Bait and Maxforce Granular Fly Bait to help control flies at the horse ranch. And the team with EnviroPest, who had an existing relationship with Hearts & Horses, donated their time and expertise.

“The partnership we have formed with Hearts & Horses these past 18 months exemplifies our mission as a company,” said Kevin Lemasters, president of EnviroPest. “We want to serve our coworkers, our customers and our community, and supporting this amazing local non-profit allows us to give back to an important cause.”

Founded in 1997, Hearts & Horses is a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) International Premier Accredited Facility that serves those with special physical, mental and emotional needs. The organization — named Loveland’s 2013 “Non-Profit of the Year”— serves an average of 160 riders per week including children and adults with physical and cognitive disabilities, at-risk youth, veterans, and seniors with Alzheimer’s.

Because the organization’s classes are held on a horse ranch, pest control is essential to maintain animal health and an overall healthy environment for the students. The services and counsel provided by EnviroPest helps prevent various fly-transmitted diseases to the horses, such as Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) and Pigeon Fever. VS is a nuisance virus that causes horses to contract sores, which forces Hearts & Horses to quarantine its horses from leaving the ranch until deemed clear again. Fly control, in general, is crucial in maintaining happy and healthy horses for the various therapeutic sessions the ranch offers.

“We can’t thank Kevin and his team enough for their continued support and are thrilled to receive additional donations from Bayer through Maxforce on a Mission,” said Jan Pollema, director of Hearts & Horses. “EnviroPest is more than just a pest control provider to us; they truly are a trusted source in industry knowledge and a valued partner.”

This Maxforce on a Mission event marks the third year that Bayer has supported underserved communities through the initiative. The program works to support non-profit organizations while raising awareness of the importance of pest control in promoting public health.

Target Specialty Products Celebrates Texas Opening

SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. — Target Specialty Products announced the opening of a new distribution center in Coppell, Texas, servicing the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. “We are thrilled to be operating out of this new state-of-the-art facility, which at 14,000 square feet is one of the largest Target Specialty Products distribution facilities,” said Todd Ferguson, president of Target Specialty Products. “It was built specifically for our needs and supports our mission to serve the current and future needs of our customers.”

The facility has enhanced safety and security features, a large will-call lobby that will also be used for classroom training, four loading docks that can accommodate trucks of all sizes, and is close to freeway access.

Target Specialty Products is a national wholesale distributor of specialty agricultural chemicals, application equipment, products, supplies, services and education. Target serves the entire United States from 18 branch locations and provides products and services to both the private and public sectors in structural pest control, landscape construction and maintenance, golf course maintenance and turfgrass maintenance, production nursery, industrial vegetation management, aquatic, forestry and vector control.

J.B. Poindexter & Co. Acquires Reading Truck Body

HOUSTON, Texas — J.B. Poindexter & Co. (JBPCO) has acquired Reading Truck Body, a manufacturer of vocational-work truck bodies. Reading Truck Body includes Reading Truck Body, LLC, which has a manufacturing plant in Reading, Pa., as well as five company-owned installation facilities operating as Reading Equipment & Distribution, LLC. It will operate as an independent business unit within JBPCO, led by current CEO Brian Nadel and his management team.

“We are excited to join the JBPCO family and share the benefits of being part of a larger organization with our valued customers, employees and partners,” Nadel said. “Reading Truck Body has enjoyed a longtime collaboration with LLR Partners, GoldPoint Partners and our other shareholders, and is now ready to take the next step in its development. Enhanced by the resources and industry expertise of JBPCO, Reading will continue its mission of the last 60 years to deliver high-quality work truck bodies specialized to meet the vocational needs of our customers. JBPCO is very supportive of our long-term strategic growth plan which includes expansion into new geographic markets and development of new, innovative products.”

“The Reading brand is well established in the market as a leader in product quality and innovation. It is a natural fit with our portfolio of outstanding commercial vehicles,” said JBPCO CEO and Founder John Poindexter. “Reading’s work is the benchmark by which truck bodies and equipment services are measured today. We look forward to supporting the company’s continued strong growth and its commitment to improving the safety and productivity of customers’ field personnel.”

Second Edition of ‘The Edge Up’ Available

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — June Van Klaveren, owner of Compelling Communications, announced that the second edition of her book, “The Edge Up,” has been published and is available as a Kindle book on Amazon.

“The Edge Up” explains to small businesses how to get the “edge up” on their competition with great customer service. From the book, Van Klaveren said, readers will receive a deceptively simple message: “Take good care of your customers and they’ll take good care of you.” The book includes such important topics as The Impact of Customer Service; Customer Service Secrets; Employees, Management and Customer Service; Real Life Customer Service Stories and Lessons; Conflicts and How to Handle Them; and Customer Service Techniques.

“The Edge Up” can be ordered from Amazon.com in a Kindle book and it also can be read on your tablet or laptop using Amazon’s Kindle app.

WorkWave Adds Consumer Reviews, Marketing Automation to Offerings

NEPTUNE, N.J. — WorkWave, a provider of cloud-based field service management and “last mile” fleet management software solutions, recently announced the acquisition of RefGo, a consumer review platform, and ContactUs.com, a provider of online marketing tools for small and medium-sized businesses. With the addition of these two key pieces of functionality, WorkWave says it expands its addressable market to more than $45 billion and becomes the first field service platform to tightly connect lead generation with service fulfillment, enabling its clients to understand the true ROI of marketing efforts, grow revenues and improve relationships with customers.

“The three biggest pain points our clients face today are improving productivity in the field, growing revenues cost effectively, and improving customer service and retention in a scalable way,” said Chris Sullens, CEO of WorkWave. “Through heavy investment in product development and several strategic acquisitions, WorkWave now offers the most powerful, cloud-based platform for improving fleet productivity in the industries we serve. While we plan to continue to invest heavily to enhance our mobility offerings, we will be aggressively adding features to the platform to help our clients solve the revenue growth and retention puzzle. Consumer reviews and marketing automation are critical elements in solving this puzzle.”

As part of these transactions, Malcolm Lewis, CEO of RefGo, and Nayt Grochowski, CTO of RefGo, have joined the WorkWave team and will be responsible for driving product development and go-to-market strategies for the consumer reviews and marketing automation segment of the business. RefGo has been rebranded as ContactUs Reviews and becomes part of WorkWave Marketing’s ContactUs suite of SMB marketing solutions.

“The beauty of our reviews product is that it provides insight into customer perception and service levels while helping clients increase lead volume and quality,” said Lewis. “Nayt and I are very excited to join the WorkWave team to help accelerate the development of the first true end-to-end solution to help clients grow and optimize their businesses.”

By tightly integrating the existing products from ContactUs and RefGo into its field service software platforms, WorkWave provides the first true end-to-end solution for field service providers, connecting clients’ lead generation and service fulfillment functions in a way that enables them to determine the true ROI of their marketing efforts and better optimize these efforts going forward.

For more information on ContactUs Reviews, visit www.contactus.com/reviews, and for more information on ContactUs.com, visit www.contactus.com.