Black-Owned Investment Firm Buys Industrial Services Provider As Energy Demand Soars
Ariel Alternatives has acquired Groome Industrial Service Group, a provider of industrial cleaning and maintenance solutions. JPMorgan Chase & Co. joined the deal with a minority stake through its asset management division.
Founded by business leader Mellody Hobson, Ariel Alternatives is the private equity arm of Ariel Investments, one of the largest Black-owned money managers in the US. The acquisition will help Groome, which employs more than 900 people across more than 20 US sites, expand its market share by tapping into the firm’s ties in the energy and utilities sector.
Ariel Alternatives buys Groome
The deal comes amid surging energy demand, fueled by the rise of AI, the rapid buildout of data centers, and an aging US power generation fleet. Groome is thought to be well-positioned to capitalize on these trends, providing outsourced, specialized maintenance and cleaning solutions to a growing industry.
“At Ariel Alternatives, our mission is to support companies and leadership teams with a bold vision for growth and the talent to realize it. In Jeff and the Groome team, we have found exactly that,” Les Brun, Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Ariel Alternatives, said. “We are energized by the partnership and confident in what we will accomplish together.”
About Mellody Hobson
Hobson launched Ariel Alternatives in 2021, which led to a $1.45 billion raise for its private equity fund for minority-owned businesses, Project Black.
She was also a board member of the Estée Lauder Companies and chairman of the board of DreamWorks Animation before it was sold in 2016.
Beyond corporate leadership, Hobson wrote a New York Times bestselling children’s book, Priceless Facts about Money. As part of her community outreach, she is a chairman of After School Matters, a non-profit in Chicago that gives teens high-quality after-school and summer programs.
Image: Amy Harris/Invision/AP
