Crothall Acquired by H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. Capital, a global alternative investment firm with $42 billion of equity capital under management, announced on Jan. 4 that one of its affiliates acquired Crothall Laundry Services from Compass Group plc, the British multinational company known best as the largest contract foodservice company in the world. Crothall Laundry was a division of Compass’ Crothall Healthcare, Wayne, PA, a diversified hospital services provider.

The announcement did not disclose terms of the sale. TRSA member Crothall Laundry, founded in 1991, provides outsourced laundry and linen management services to the healthcare and hospitality sectors. The sale reportedly involves 29 operations that process 600 million lbs. (272 million kg.) of linens annually, recognized for adherence to quality and sustainability standards and processes such as TRSA Hygienically Clean, OSHA and JCAHO guidelines.

“This is an exciting event, said Crothall CEO Michael Barner, “Over the last three decades, we have made substantial investments in our plants, infrastructure and capabilities, while supporting the growth of leading healthcare organizations. Now, more than ever, our customers are increasingly relying on us to support their linen-management and infection-control needs.” He added that, “We are excited to work with H.I.G. Capital as we push ahead with our expansion plans.”

Richard Stokes, managing director at H.I.G., affirmed Barner’s assessment of Crothall’s industry standing, noting that, “Crothall is the clear leader in the laundry and linen-management sector, serving healthcare institutions through the combination of best-in-class operations, scalable data-driven processes and a stringent focus on quality. These solutions have increasingly positioned Crothall as a critical partner to healthcare providers as they seek to improve the patient experience. We look forward to working with the team to build upon their success and support continued growth initiatives.”