ROCHESTER, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Outdoor Living Supply (“OLS”), a distribution platform for outdoor living products with a focus on hardscapes, announced today it has acquired Geo. Schofield Co., Inc. (“Schofield” or the “Company”), a leading East Coast hardscapes distributor specializing in natural stone. This is the first acquisition made by Outdoor Living Supply, which was established in late 2020 in partnership with leading private equity firm Trilantic North America. OLS is led by industry veterans Brian Price, Jesse Cravath and Brian Reilly, who serve as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, respectively.
Brian Price founded Outdoor Living Supply after nearly 20 years of running Rockwood Retaining Walls, a leading hardscape manufacturing and licensing business owned and operated by Price’s family for three generations. OLS’ mission is to partner with leading regional, outdoor living distributors to create a differentiated, national, hardscapes-focused distribution platform, building on the local relationships, talent and leadership positions of the companies and providing resources, expertise and capital to support their continued growth.
Founded in 1923, Schofield is one of the first and largest suppliers of natural stone and landscape products to contractors on the East Coast. Today, Schofield operates nine wholesale distribution centers and five warehouse, production and fabrication facilities in Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, in addition to transportation services. The partnership with OLS will help Schofield strengthen its sales and distribution capabilities, as well as drive continued growth in new and existing geographies.
“We’re thrilled to welcome the Schofield team, which brings highly complementary natural stone expertise, to the OLS platform,” said Price. “We see a great alignment of values with Schofield and the culture they’ve built based on hard work, integrity and a contractor-focused approach and look forward to what we’ll accomplish together.”
“We are excited to work with Outdoor Living Supply as we continue scaling our operations across the East Coast,” said Bill Newell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Schofield. “It was incredibly important to us and OLS that we retain the full team in our pursuit of expanding our foothold in the hardscapes space, and we believe that joining the Outdoor Living Supply platform is the right next step for our company and our employees to accomplish this goal.”
Investment from Trilantic North America
Outdoor Living Supply launched in partnership with Trilantic North America in late 2020, which invested in the platform to support its growth across key verticals including: hardscapes; outdoor living; landscape accessories; outdoor lighting; and bulk materials. Trilantic North America brings more than a decade of experience partnering with family- and founder-owned businesses to accelerate their growth by investing in technology, supply chain and inventory management capabilities and other operations functions.
“Our firm has a long history of backing visionary entrepreneurs to help bring standout ideas to fruition,” said Charles Fleischmann, Partner at Trilantic North America. “We were immediately impressed by OLS’ concept of creating a nationwide distribution platform that’s squarely focused on hardscapes and believe the management’s tenures in the space, combined with their emphasis on integrating digital tools into this otherwise physical industry will be key enablers to OLS’ success.”
“OLS and Trilantic North America share a passion for partnering with family-owned companies to support their founders’ visions and strengthen their legacies for generations to come,” said Price. “We’re excited to build our platform into a national player and employer of choice in the outdoor living distribution market with their partnership.”
About Outdoor Living Supply
Outdoor Living Supply is a distribution platform for outdoor living products with a specific, differentiated focus on hardscapes. OLS seeks to partner with family- and founder-led companies with shared values and local heritage. By leveraging deep industry relationships, OLS supports its companies’ growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions while providing the products, resources, technology and training to enhance the customer experience and create new opportunities for its employees.
For more information, visit www.outdoorlivingsupply.net.
About Geo. Schofield Co., Inc.
Geo. Schofield Co., Inc. is a leading East Coast hardscapes distributor with a focus on natural stone. Founded by George Schofield in 1923 as a trucking business to supply materials to the construction industry, the company currently operates nine wholesale distribution centers and five warehouse, production and fabrication facilities in Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, in addition to transportation services. Geo. Schofield Co., Inc. is a part of the Outdoor Living Supply family of hardscape distributors.
For more information, visit www.schofieldstone.com.
About Trilantic North America
Trilantic Capital Management L.P. (“Trilantic North America”) is a private equity firm focused on control and significant minority investments in North America. Trilantic North America’s primary investment focus is in the business services, consumer and energy sectors. Trilantic North America has managed six private equity fund families with aggregate capital commitments of $9.7 billion. Trilantic North America has been recognized by Inc. Magazine’s 2019 list of Top 50 Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms.
For more information, visit www.trilanticnorthamerica.com.
