Buying group United Aqua Group has been sold to a private-equity firm with a track record in the pool and spa industry.
In a deal that closed March 17, New York-based Tenex Capital Management purchased the company.
“We’re really proud to partner with Tenex,” said Craig Goodson, President/CEO of UAG, which is based in Las Vegas. “We’ve been in business now for 62 years, so this just ensures our next 62. It’s the next step in our evolution and growth.”
Tenex has held companies in all sectors of the industry. Its portfolio currently includes Dallas-Fort Worth-area builder and service firm Gold Medal Pools, which it purchased in 2023. It owned the distribution roll-up AquaCentral before selling it to the parent company of Heritage Pool and Spa Supply. As part of that sale, Tenex retained partial ownership of Heritage until Home Depot purchased the distributor last summer. Tenex also owned manufacturer Custom Molded Products (CMP), which it sold to Fluidra in 2021. The firm’s portfolio also includes companies from related industries such as plumbing/HVAC and home construction.
“I think UAG couldn’t have chosen a better partner,” Goodson said. “They’re a powerful company that’s known in our industry, with a great reputation of being smart and strategic. Their experience in the pool industry, their experience in running businesses of our size… and the team of people they have behind them to help from a strategic and efficiency standpoint is what we’re counting on and excited about.”
Goodson said things will largely remain business-as-usual for UAG, whose member count currently stands at 350 pool/spa companies across all 50 states.
“Nothing’s going to change with the structure of our company,” Goodson said. “It’s just a matter of taking our company and making it as efficient as possible.”
Members will continue to have the opportunity to gain UAG stock, he said. “There will be a stock option aspect,” Goodson said. “[The transaction] won’t affect how members gain stock in the future.”
With Tenex and its resources at UAG'S disposal, the buying group expects to help fund growth. For the time being, it will focus largely on organically growing the members it already has, Goodson said, adding that it does not want to speed up its recruitment and vetting process when choosing new members.
“We treat UAG like it’s more of an invitation-only group than an open invitation,” he said. “So we’re not aggressively seeking new members. That’s why organic growth is so important to us and top of our list.”
While Tenex may provide guidance on such matters as strategic planning, legal issues, accounting and IT, Goodson said no changes are expected for the staff.
“We have 23 people, and I expect that number to increase over the course of the next 12 months,” he said.
UAG will be included in Tenex’s Fund IV, established last year and currently worth $1.9 Billion.
Some have wondered if this means Tenex plans to apply the roll-up approach to buying groups, potentially purchasing others and merging them. Goodson said he knows of no such plan at this time.
