InStar Services Group Expands Further into California—Additional Acquisitions to Follow

TROY, Mich., March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- InStar Services Group, LP (InStar) announced it completed the acquisition of a majority of the stock of Oakwood Construction and Restoration Services, Inc.  Headquartered in Brea, Calif., Oakwood is a leader in disaster restoration and reconstruction serving Southern California providing property recovery solutions to residential, commercial, and multifamily clients. Oakwood's range of services includes emergency response, temporary power/climate control, loss mitigation, cleaning and decontamination, pack out, crime scene cleanup, fire and flood remediation, as well as reconstruction services.  The business will continue to operate using the Oakwood name and the entire Oakwood team will remain with the company.  InStar President and CEO Mark W. Davis made the announcement.

Since 1986, Oakwood has strived for excellence in customer service under Todd and Jyl Benson's outstanding leadership.  Oakwood has earned a reputation as one of the industry's true leaders.

"When Mark Davis and his team approached me with this merger opportunity, I had no desire to change the dynamic of our family business that had just come off its most successful year. However, the InStar culture, under Mark's leadership, is built on a foundation of great people committed to giving world class service in an industry that needs to be pushed to a higher level. The combination of Oakwood's family driven values and InStar's focus on enterprise-wide commitment to service through best-in-class people just made for the perfect integration," said Todd Benson.

"Todd is one of the best operators I have seen in my 16 years in this business.  His relentless commitment to customer service drives every process inside the company, resulting in the highest level of quality and service for Oakwood's clients," said Davis.  "With Todd Benson and the entire Oakwood team, InStar plans to grow in California and the West under his leadership.  We will merge InStar's California commercial operations into Oakwood and will now be under Todd's leadership."

With this acquisition, InStar is now comprised of 20 response centers in the U.S. and is a leading national provider of disaster response, insurance restoration and reconstruction services. In addition to disaster response, services include response to regularly occurring incidents, such as fires, floods, water-line breaks and storm damage in order to return damaged property to its pre-loss condition.  InStar also provides structural maintenance, renovation and modernization services to large multi-family properties.

The acquisition of Oakwood marks InStar's fifth expansion in the last 14 months.  InStar's majority owners, private equity firm BlackEagle Partners, LLC (BlackEagle), supported the company's entrance into Troy, Mich., as well as the acquisition of B. Poole Restoration in New York, Horizon Restoration in Denver, opening a new office in Seattle, and now Oakwood.  "Partnering with successful entrepreneurs like Todd Benson is important as InStar continues its expansion efforts into one of the nation's leading disaster restoration markets," said Jason Runco, Partner of BlackEagle.

About InStar

InStar is a leading national provider of disaster response, insurance restoration and reconstruction services operating from 20 branches. In addition to disaster response, services include response to fires, floods, water-line breaks and storm damage in order to return damaged property to its pre-loss condition, the company also provides structural maintenance, renovation and modernization services to large multi-family properties. InStar markets its services to a broad range of customers, including retail, hospitality, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance companies and multi-family residential property owners/managers.

About BlackEagle

BlackEagle Partners, LLC, with offices in New York, New York and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is an operations focused, middle market private equity firm that seeks to acquire non-core subsidiaries and companies in out-of-favor industries.  BlackEagle seeks businesses with an enterprise value below $200 million.

SOURCE InStar Services Group, LP