GHK Capital Takes Control of Rogers Building Solutions to Scale HVAC & Plumbing Platform

GHK Capital Partners LP, a seasoned middle-market private equity firm, has completed a strategic acquisition of Rogers Building Solutions (RBS), a Georgia-based specialty mechanical contractor. The deal reinforces GHK’s playbook of building platform businesses in industrial services and infrastructure and positions RBS to accelerate its growth amid strong secular tailwinds in data centers, healthcare, and logistics.

Deal Summary

• Buyer: GHK Capital Partners LP, a control-oriented PE firm focused on industrial companies across North America.
• Target: Rogers Building Solutions (RBS), headquartered in Douglasville, Georgia.
• Business Description: RBS offers a full suite of specialty mechanical services - HVAC and plumbing design, prefabrication, installation, controls integration, rehabilitation, and maintenance - for commercial and industrial facilities.
• Geographic Footprint: Primarily operating across the Southeast U.S., with a workforce of more than 1,200 skilled professionals.
• Customer Base and End Markets: Serving highly mission-critical sectors such as data centers, healthcare, manufacturing, education, and logistics.
• Strategic Rationale: GHK’s capital injection is intended to fund geographic expansion, inorganic growth via add-ons, and broader service offerings. The acquisition aligns with long-term demand for capacity in RBS’s key markets, driven by data infrastructure growth, shifts in manufacturing, aging population, and reshoring trends.
• Deal Advisors: GHK was advised by Citizens Financial Group and William Blair; RBS was advised by Fifth Third Securities and law firm Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg.

Industry Context

The acquisition of RBS reflects a broader consolidation trend in the specialty mechanical contracting space. The HVAC and plumbing services sector remains fragmented, particularly in the Southeast, where many firms are family-run and regional. However, demand in mission-critical verticals - like data centers and healthcare - is growing rapidly. These end markets require high reliability, sophisticated technical execution, and long-term maintenance contracts, making them attractive to institutional operators and investors.

Private equity firms are increasingly pursuing these specialist contractors because they combine resilient service models with scalable growth potential. The fragmentation of the sector offers numerous acquisition targets, and consolidating under a platform allows for capacity sharing, cross-selling, and best-practice deployment.

Lower-Middle-Market Roll-Up Perspective

From the perspective of lower-middle-market private equity, GHK’s acquisition of RBS is a textbook “build-up” move. GHK has a track record of backing industrial and infrastructure-services companies, and this deal furthers that thesis by adding a differentiated operator with strong technical capability and a blue-chip customer base.

Rather than a financial investor looking for a quick flip, GHK appears committed to a long-term partnership: it aims to help RBS scale both geographically and operationally. GHK’s value-add will likely involve accelerating inorganic M&A, professionalizing back-office functions, and leveraging secular trends to drive growth. RBS’s CEO, Mike Grabham, emphasized continuity of service and talent retention, indicating that the transaction is about scaling the platform, not disrupting the existing business model.

This strategy reflects common traits in PE-led roll-ups in services: building “buy-and-hold” platforms with technical differentiation, strong customer relationships, and high recurring-revenue potential (e.g., through maintenance and retrofits).

Why This Sector Is Attractive for Roll-Ups

Several structural drivers reinforce why mechanical contracting is a compelling space for consolidation:

• Megatrend Tailwinds: Data center deployment, aging infrastructure, and industrial reshoring are fueling demand for mechanical services.
• Fragmented Market: Numerous small, local mechanical contractors remain independent, creating a pipeline of acquisition targets.
• High-Stakes Clients: RBS’s focus on mission-critical customers requires high reliability, making its services sticky and defensible.
• Lifecycle Services: By covering design, installation, retrofit, and maintenance, contractors can capture full customer lifecycle value.
• Operational Leverage: A scaled platform can centralize procurement, shared labor pools, and operational best practices, driving margin improvement.

Conclusion

GHK Capital’s takeover of Rogers Building Solutions underscores the strength of its strategy: invest in technically capable, high-value service businesses in under-consolidated industrial infrastructure sectors. For RBS, the partnership unlocks growth capital, M&A momentum, and professionalization - all while preserving the company’s customer focus and technical DNA. For other founders and operators in the HVAC and plumbing space, this deal highlights how private equity partners can actively support platform growth without sacrificing local identity or service quality. For investors, it reinforces the compelling risk-reward case of lower-middle-market industrial services: specialty providers with mission-critical expertise, backed by long-term secular tailwinds.