Riverside Stays on Fire with Latest Investment

The Riverside Company, a global private equity investor focused on the smaller end of the middle market, has acquired General Fire Extinguisher Service, Inc. (General Fire) as an add-on to its fire and life safety platform, Performance Systems Integration (PSI). Based in Portland, Oregon, PSI is a leading provider of fire and life safety services in the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West and Northern California regions. The company provides customers with fire and life safety services including system inspection, service and monitoring, equipment and first-aid sales and cylinder repairs as well as installations for new construction and retrofits.

General Fire is based in Spokane, Washington, and provides repeating fire and life safety system inspection, repair and maintenance services and parts, as well as installation services for new construction and retrofits, to customers across various industries in the Spokane, Washington area.

“General Fire is the seventh add-on to PSI under Riverside’s ownership and strengthens our presence in the Eastern Washington region,” said Riverside Managing Partner Loren Schlachet. “We’re excited about the opportunities the combination of General Fire and PSI will open up for the PSI platform.”

PSI is committed to delivering high-quality customer service through its ‘single-point-of-management’ compliance services for all fire and life safety needs in the Pacific Northwest and the California Bay Area. PSI also operates cylinder requalification, cylinder maintenance and fire equipment parts distribution businesses under the Fire King brand. With decades of experience in the fire and life safety industry, PSI’s mission is to help save lives by providing meaningful fire and life safety protection and training.

“We’re excited to add General Fire to the PSI family and look forward to continuing to grow the strong business General Fire has built over the years and providing customers in the Spokane, Washington area with exceptional levels of service,” said PSI CEO Travis Everton.

This is one more example of Riverside’s commitment to the Business Services industry. Riverside has invested in more than 300 platform and add-on companies in the business services sector since 1988 as part of its private equity and structured capital strategies.

“We are excited to add General Fire to the PSI platform and solidify our market-leading position in the Eastern Washington region,” said Riverside Partner John McKernan. “We will continue to pursue similar customer-focused fire protection companies with strong technicians and specializations in inspection, repair, maintenance and monitoring of fire and life safety equipment.”

Working with Schlachet and McKernan on the deal were Senior Associate Aakeem Andrada, Associate Alex Kozan, Operating Partner Ervin Cash and Finance Director Bart Thielen. Principal, Origination, Cheryl Strom sourced the deal for Riverside.