FORMERLY PE OWNED
Terminix
Includes ServiceMaster, Terminix Global Holdings, ServiceMaster Global Holdings
pest control · Memphis, TN
- PE Firm
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice →
- Year Acquired
- 2007
Under private equity's watch, Terminix fumigated homes with a banned pesticide. A family ended up with permanent brain damage.
What Happened
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice bought ServiceMaster (Terminix's parent) for $5.5 billion in 2007 — loaded the company with debt while extracting management fees
- Took the company public again in 2014 at $17/share while CD&R and partners retained majority control — the classic PE debt-load-then-IPO cycle to recoup their investment
- In 2020, ServiceMaster sold its franchise brands (ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, etc.) to Roark Capital for $1.553 billion — stripping the company down to just Terminix before the Rentokil sale
- UK-based Rentokil acquired Terminix for $6.7 billion in October 2022, ending a 15-year PE ownership saga — by then the brand was synonymous with lawsuits, not pest control
The Damage Done
- In 2015, Terminix fumigated a Virgin Islands vacation condo with methyl bromide — banned for home use since 1984 — and the gas seeped into the unit above, leaving a family of four with permanent neurological damage, the father paralyzed.
- Terminix paid $10 million in federal criminal penalties and about $87 million to settle with the family, and admitted in its guilty plea to illegally using the chemical at 15 properties across three islands.
- The local branch manager was sentenced to a year in federal prison for the illegal applications.
- That same year in Florida, a Terminix subcontractor cleared a fumigated home as safe while knowing its air monitors didn't work, leaving a 10-year-old with severe brain damage. Terminix said the subcontractor was independent.
Sources
- Acquisition of Terminix Completion — Rentokil Initial(2022-10-12)
- $87M Settlement to Family Sickened by Toxic Pesticide — CBS News(2016-08-01)
- Terminix Fined $10 Million in Virgin Islands Toxic Pesticide Case — CBS News(2017-11-21)
- Terminix Branch Manager Sentenced for Illegally Applying Restricted-Use Pesticide — U.S. DOJ(2019-01-25)
- Fumigation Company and Two Individuals Pled Guilty in Illegal Pesticide Case — U.S. EPA(2017-02-15)
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Completes ServiceMaster Transaction — CD&R(2007-07-24)