Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, the middle-market focused private equity team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, have completed an investment in Fairway Lawns.

MSCP is partnering with the current management team led by CEO Kyle DeMilt, who will continue to lead the business.

Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Fairway is a residential lawn care company. The company, which operates 16 branches across the Southeast region, primarily provides recurring lawn care services such as weed control and fertilization, in addition to complementary services including pest control and tree/shrub maintenance.

“For nearly 40 years, Fairway has consistently delivered best in class residential lawn care services to our customers, and we are thrilled to partner with MSCP on the next phase in our history,” said Kyle DeMilt, CEO of Fairway. “We look to leverage MSCP’s approach to operational excellence, as well as their experience completing complementary acquisitions to accelerate the expansion of Fairway’s capabilities and geographic footprint in the coming years.”

“We are excited to partner with Kyle and the Fairway team as they continue to work to build the company into the leading residential lawncare platform in the Southeast," said Adam Shaw, managing director and head of business services at MSCP. "For MSCP, Fairway represents an opportunity to execute on our core strategy of investing in focus sub-sectors where we have deep institutional knowledge and experience to drive value creation. We look forward to working together to advance the company’s market leadership position through organic growth and acquisitions.”

Debevoise & Plimpton served as legal counsel to MSCP, and Solomon Partners served as MSCP’s financial advisor. Carlyle Global Credit acted as sole administrative agent, bookrunner and arranger on the financing. Harris Williams served as financial advisor to Fairway.

GPS Insight, a fleet and field service management software provider, announced the release of Field Service Management For Dummies, a free ebook written with Wiley publishing to help guide operations executives, business owners and service managers to the right field service management solution for their business without an overload of technical jargon.

Companies of all sizes with fleet and field operations struggle with high operating costs, safety risks and antiquated strategies that waste valuable time and money. While digital transformation may seem like a daunting project to add to the docket, it is a sure-fire way to futureproof your operations to yield exceptional cost, productivity and customer service benefits. Field Service Management For Dummies combines subject matter expertise from GPS Insight with Wiley’s editorial mission to make everything easier.

“The ‘For Dummies’ initiative gives us a great way to share field service management best practices simply and clearly, and I cannot wait to get this guide in front of field service leaders across the world,” said Shawna Stephenson, CMO at GPS Insight. “Companies who specialize in field service are facing unprecedented times, as the rapid need to digitize is met with information overload and analysis paralysis. After reading Field Service Management For Dummies, field service executives will understand how to choose the right tools to streamline the business, scale, and grow.”

Field Service Management For Dummies is now free for download.

The employee-owners of PBI-Gordon Corporation announced that Dan Dumler has joined the company as western regional sales manager. Dumler is responsible for leading the PBI-Gordon sales team in the western half of the United States – which includes Wisconsin and states west of the Mississippi River.

Based in Castle Rock, Colo., Dumler’s duties include coaching the western regional sales team, identifying news sales opportunities and strengthening the company’s product portfolio with key customers in the golf course maintenance and professional lawn care segments.

Prior to joining PBI-Gordon, Dumler was a regional sales manager at Simplot Turf & Horticulture. Before that, he held various sales positions for Bayer Environmental Science.

Dumler holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business management from Oregon State University.

“Dan brings more than 27 years of turf industry and sales leadership experience to this role with PBI-Gordon,” said Tim Demerath, vice president of sales for PBI-Gordon Corporation. “We are excited to have Dan on board. Our customers and sales team will benefit greatly from his deep knowledge of this industry.”

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, a dozen Integra Group team members traded in their laptops and monitors for hammer and drills to help Habitat for Humanity St. Louis build a new home for a family in need. The company has been a partner with the local Habitat chapter building homes since 2015.

“The Integra Group supports Habitat for Humanity St. Louis’ mission to ensure everyone has a roof over their head by working with families to help them acquire the access, skills, and financial education necessary to be successful homeowners,” said Mike Cossins, president and founder of The Integra Group, developer of BOSS Software. “By partnering with Habitat for Humanity, families seize the opportunity and possibility that decent, affordable housing represents, and we are proud to support such a worthy cause.”

Integra Group team members lent their skills and time to help build the exterior framing on the ranch-style home in St. Louis’ Riverview/Glasgow Village neighborhood. This project supports The Integra Group Foundation’s mission of giving to the poor and less fortunate through both monetary donations and personal involvement.

Habitat for Humanity offers a homeownership opportunity to families living between 25 and50 percent of the area median income, who are generally unable to obtain conventional house financing. In addition to purchasing their home and paying an affordable mortgage, partner homeowners contribute 350 hours of "sweat equity" on the construction of their home or another Habitat Saint Louis home and take educational courses to help them succeed at owning a home.

In addition to Habitat for Humanity, Integra also works with Give Hope Global, Midwest Food Bank and the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation.

Contractors should advise homeowners to focus on three things to combat mosquitoes on their property: Drain, Dress, and Defend.

For more mosquito control advice, click here to read the full article.