Michael Hatcher & Associates (MH&A), based in Olive Branch, Miss., completed an acquisition of Green King through their lawn care division Master Lawn. With this acquisition Master Lawn’s residential customer count has increased by 233 percent. For the immediate future, the Green King brand will remain in use with Green King customers.
All of Green King’s assets, including staff, customers, equipment and financials are now owned and operated by Master Lawn. Green King’s founder, Greg Drumwright, said he received six different offers from parties wanting to acquire his company, but he held out for a deal with MH&A.
“Early on there was a good trust built between our leadership team,” said Russ Sneed, COO of MH&A. “I think he has the utmost respect for Michael and if you’re around Greg for a while he’ll go ahead and tell you two or three things that Michael has said to him that have stuck with him or several things that Michael has done to support him along the way.”
For years, Master Lawn and Green King shared a similar geographic region. With the acquisition, it has expanded Master Lawn’s presence to Mississippi’s Lafayette and Tishomingo counties. Green King’s Olive Branch location will serve as a branch office for Master Lawn.
This is MH&A’s fourth lawn care expansion over the last four years. The first one was with Master Lawn, which they now use for their lawn care division name.
All 22 of Green King’s employees are joining Master Lawn’s existing 23 employees. There was no staff reduction with this acquisition.
MH&A CFO Trey Ball said they don’t have the employee capacity to accomplish all the new work they’ve acquired so it is crucial for them to onboard the employees from acquired companies and keep them long-term. He says it’s not just about having spray technicians, but also the managers, customer support team and strong sales team that keeps everything running smoothly.