“Put your people first. When you own a company, it’s your company, but your team has helped you build it and the only reason you’re in a position to sell is because of your team. If you had a standard of taking care of your people, see that through. Take care of your team so you can walk away and feel good about it.”

When Angelo Tomiselli Jr. started Rodent Pest Technologies 27 years ago while waiting tables at night to pay the bills, he never dreamed it would become the fast-growing company it is today.
The company serves homeowner associations and commercial buildings throughout Southern California. It started out as a rodent-removal company before expanding into pest control, termites and construction repair work.

The decision to sell

In fact, the fast growth is the reason Tomiselli decided to explore selling his company late last year.

“I realized the company was growing faster than I could keep up with running it,” he says. “I was worried that it was outgrowing me and that I would end up hurting my staff. I thought maybe there was somebody else who could take better care of my people.”

The day-in, day-out nature of the business became logistically challenging for Tomiselli, who worried he was selling his staff short.

He made a passing comment about selling the company to an acquaintance in the pest industry. That person connected him with Dan Gordon, managing partner of PCO M&A Specialists.
“I had heard of Dan but never interacted with him,” Tomiselli says. “I made a phone call to him and we had a short conversation about what it would mean to sell. I said I’d think about it and call him in two weeks. Two weeks later I felt the same way, so I gave him a call.”

The sale

Tomiselli made it clear to the PCO M&A Specialists team that his No. 1 goal was to protect his people.

“I knew what was going on in the M&A world,” he says. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t sell my company to somebody who would take the accounts and leave the people behind. The technicians I have are trained differently –they understand the jobs differently.I didn’t want to sell the company tosomebody who didn’t understand it andit be gone in a year.”

After Tomiselli’s second call to Gordon, which was around the first of the year, things moved quickly. Tomiselli met the other members of the PCO M&A Specialists team, and he began turning over the information required to assemble a book they would present to potential buyers. About a month later, Tomiselli had interest from multiple buyers, including Certus, which made an offer that well exceeded his expectations.

“It seemed like a great fit. The fact that we found a company that really cared about my people and that Dan and team were able to negotiate such a great deal – that to me was really terrific,” Tomiselli says. “Once I knew we had someone interested in my people, not just my book of business, I felt like I could move forward and this would be a good fit.”

The experience

In addition to helping Tomiselli fulfill his goal of finding a buyer that would treat his team well, PCO M&A Specialists made the difficult process go as smoothly as possible.

“As stressful as the situation was, they took some of the unknown out of it for me,” he says. “They laid a road map for me every step of the way and they were literally there for me whenever I needed them.

“The team was amazing,” he says. “They held my hand through the whole thing. They made it as easy as it could be and they got me a number that was way beyond my expectations.”
About two months into the selling process, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but it didn’t derail the deal. Thankfully for Tomiselli, the Certus team honored its original offer, which indicated to him that he chose the right buyer for his firm.

“They proved to us that they were who they said they were,” he says. “They stood by their word.”