December 2, 2008

FirstOnSite Acquires Operations in Eastern Ontario

Toronto: FirstOnSite Restoration L.P. announced today that it has acquired General Maintenance Contractors, the leading disaster restoration firm in Eastern Ontario with offices in Belleville, Kingston, Brockville, and Bancroft. 

The acquisition is part of FirstOnSite’s strategy of building Canada’s leading national provider of disaster restoration services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Since early 2007, FirstOnSite has acquired operations in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Alberta. Including the original founding companies, this is FirstOnSite’s 14th acquisition in the 22 months since its inception.

Including the newly acquired operations, FirstOnSite now has more than $180 million in annual revenue and more than 1,000 direct employees in 35 cities and towns across Canada. FirstOnSite anticipates additional acquisitions as it continues to grow nationwide.

With General Maintenance, we are adding a sizeable business in a new and important geography,” said Ian Milne, FirstOnSite’s Chief Executive Officer. We are very impressed by the quality of General Maintenance’s operations, the strength of its management team and its commitment to ongoing employee education.”

Jason Prescott, General Manager of General Maintenance, said, By joining FirstOnSite, we will be able to provide even better service to our residential and commercial property customers in Eastern Ontario. Our capabilities, experience and top-quality workmanship make us a perfect fit for Canada’s only national emergency response and restoration company.”

The current General Maintenance management team has taken a significant equity position in the FirstOnSite limited partnership and will continue managing the day-to-day operations of the business in Eastern Ontario.

FirstOnSite is a full service restoration provider with expertise in water losses, document restoration, wind damage, fire and smoke damage, sewer backup, hurricane and tornado restorations, odour control, contents handling, drying, electronic repairs, mould remediation, asbestos remediation, petroleum spills, infection control and general contracting. FirstOnSite is majority-owned by TorQuest Partners Inc. of Toronto.