Certus acquires Aaron Pest Control

From left are Ron Shakespeare, market president, SE at Certus; Mario Gines, controller at Aaron Pest Control; and Phil Smith, owner of Aaron Pest Control. IMAGE: CERTUS PEST

Orlando, Fla.-based Certus Pest has acquired Aaron Pest Control, DeLand, Fla. Jim and Laverne Smith founded the company in 1963, and grew it to serve residential and commercial customers throughout Central Florida. Terms were not disclosed; Rand Hollon from Preferred Business Brokers represented and acted as exclusive financial advisors to Aaron Pest Control in this transaction.

Second-generation owner Phil Smith, noted in a news release that “since taking over leadership of Aaron Pest Control, I have stayed true to my parents’ commitment to put their employees first. When looking for the company to entrust with our family business, this commitment was top of mind. I needed to be confident that my team would be well taken care of, and any promises made to them would be kept in the transition.”

ABOUT CERTUS

In 1996, CEO and Co-founder Mike Givlin founded Bird Control International, a successful business acquired by Steritech in 2007. Givlin served as VP of North American Bird Program & Special Projects at Steritech for more than nine years. From 2016 to 2018, as VP of North America at Anticimex, Givlin helped lead the Swedish company’s entry into North America, helping drive its acquisition-focused growth to more than $100 million in revenue.

During a brief hiatus from the industry, Mike began developing the idea of partnering with like-minded pest control entrepreneurs to support their growth aspirations with both capital and best-in-class expertise. In 2019, Mike partnered with Imperial Capital, a mid-market private equity firm from Toronto, Canada. Together, they formed Certus, envisioning a new platform to partner with leading pest control companies across the U.S. and Canada. Currently, Certus operates in California, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Idaho and Arizona.