Anticimex Acquires Seattle-Based Eastside Exterminators

WOODINVILLE, Wash. – Anticimex announced its expansion into Washington state with the acquisition of Eastside Exterminators. 

Headquartered in Woodinville, Wash., Eastside was founded by Ralph James Townsend Jr. in 1969, and has been operated by his daughter Deanna Townsend and business partner Alex Altizer for the last two decades.

The company offers pest and rodent control services throughout the Greater Seattle area. The acquisition closed on October 16.

For the last 23 years, Eastside has been run by Townsend, the third-generation pest control operator of the Townsend family, and Altizer.

Townsend and Altizer have cultivated a customer-centric culture focused on delivering high-quality service.

"Partnering with Eastside is a major milestone for Anticimex as we expand into the Seattle market," said Bill Talon, president of Anticimex South & West North America. "Eastside is a household name and a leader in the pest management industry, with a long-standing history and commitment to their customers and employees that perfectly aligns with Anticimex's values of trust, passion, and innovation."

Talon adding, "With this acquisition, we see a significant opportunity to pair Eastside's highly trained and dedicated staff with Anticimex's cutting-edge Smart technologies, allowing us to provide even greater value to our customers. Together, we look forward to continuing our growth and further establishing ourselves as a leading provider of pest management services in the Pacific Northwest."

“Making the decision to sell was a life altering one, and I am at peace knowing that our family values will live on with Anticimex,” Townsend said. “It was important to me to have a company whose values aligned with ours and who would continue to take care of our employees and our customers.”

“When we looked at potential partners, Anticimex stood out as the clear choice. Their passion for the industry and dedication to their core values align perfectly with what we have been committed to at Eastside for the past 54 years,” Altizer said. “We wanted to take Eastside to the next level, and we knew that partnering with Anticimex would provide us with the resources and support we need to achieve that goal.

Altizer adding, "In particular, Anticimex’s digital and sustainable pest control offering branded Smart provides us an edge going forward as we can now offer proactive and around-the-clock solutions for our customer base, all while they continue to receive world-class service. It was also important to know that our employees will now have even greater opportunities for career advancement.”

Kemp Anderson of Kemp Anderson Consulting represented and acted as exclusive financial adviser to Eastside Exterminators in this transaction.

“Deanna and Alex built one of the very best service companies and cultures in our industry and the leadership team at Anticimex recognized this and did an exceptional job with the transaction,” Anderson said.