Pearl Street forms Panther Service Group around four Tampa Bay trade brands

Four weeks after launching a new Florida platform, Pearl Street Capital Partners put four Tampa Bay trade brands under it at once.

Panther Service Group announced on April 29, 2026 that it had partnered with Apex Plumbing of the Tampa Bay area along with its affiliated brands Garrett Plumbing, Mason Air Conditioning and Heating and Green Light Electric Services. The combined business serves Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and surrounding areas across plumbing, HVAC and electrical work. Terms were not disclosed (Source: PR Newswire / Panther Service Group, 2026).

It was Panther’s first transaction. Pearl Street Capital Partners had announced the platform’s launch on April 1, 2026, describing it as a plumbing, HVAC and electrical services company focused on Florida and headquartered in Tampa.

Apex president Joe Pinkert stayed with the business. In the announcement he called the deal “an exciting opportunity for us to partner with a local platform,” and Panther said each partner company would keep its distinctive identity and culture — the standard structure in this market, where the truck, the phone number and the name on the invoice usually stay the same after a sale.

How the deal was financed

On May 27, 2026, Graycliff Partners announced it had completed a unitranche debt and equity co-investment supporting the acquisition of Apex Plumbing. Graycliff managing director Frank Cacace said the firm looked forward to supporting further plumbing, HVAC and electrical acquisitions in Florida (Source: Graycliff Partners, 2026).

That is the part of a home-services deal homeowners never see. The purchase was funded partly with borrowed money placed on the operating business, and the sponsor has publicly stated its intent to buy more Florida contractors using the same platform.

Why four brands at once

Buying an operator that already runs several brands is efficient for a first deal. It gives a new platform immediate coverage of three trades — plumbing, cooling and electrical — in one closing, in the counties it wants. Hillsborough and Pinellas are among the most heavily consolidated home-service markets in Florida, and Panther is now the newest Tampa-headquartered platform competing for the next family-owned seller.

Panther joins a crowded field. Apex Service Partners is headquartered in Tampa and operates nationally; Strikepoint Group Holdings runs six Tampa Bay brands; Wrench Group owns Red Cap Plumbing & Air. None of those names appear on the trucks of the others.

What it means for homeowners

Nothing in this announcement says anything about the quality of the work Apex, Garrett, Mason or Green Light do. What changes with any platform acquisition is the structure behind the work.

Three structural features are worth knowing about the model generally, not about these companies specifically:

• Capital has a clock. Private equity platforms are built to be sold or recapitalized, typically within a handful of years. The people who bought your contractor are not the people who will own it at the end.
• Debt sits on the operating company. When a deal is funded with a unitranche facility, as Graycliff disclosed here, the interest is paid out of the cash the business generates from service calls.
• Buy-and-build means more deals. Graycliff said explicitly that it expects to support further Florida acquisitions under this platform. Your neighbor’s independent contractor may be next.

The practical response is not to avoid an acquired company. It is to know who owns the company before you approve a quote, get a second bid on any replacement recommendation, and ask what a membership plan actually obligates you to.

Check the ownership record for any Tampa Bay contractor in the company database, or see the deal record for this transaction.