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Americas Private Credit Review – March 30, 2026

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Editor’s Note: Welcome to Octus’ Americas Private Credit Review. This regular report encapsulates market information, data and commentary relevant to private debt investors and professionals in the United States. We include a curation of Octus’ enterprise journalism, with links to unverified third-party press reports and primary sources. Finally, the review includes a link to a deal origination pipeline for buyout and refinancing transactions.

Every week, Octus publishes the Primary Issuance Tracker, which tracks global loan and bond issuance data dating back to 2020 and through today.

Investors Foresee Safe, Steady Returns From Commercial, Residential HVAC

By Collin Krabbe, Armie Margaret Lee

The fragmented heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, market offers strong tailwinds with opportunities for technological advancement while remaining relatively insulated from the impact of artificial intelligence, dealmakers tell Octus.

There is strong interest in businesses that also operate in complementary markets with healthy growth potential, such as building automation and controls, said Theodore Polk, co-head of industrials investment banking at Capstone Partners.

“These types of complementary products improve the ability of building owners to operate in a more energy efficient manner and help reduce one of their largest operating costs – their energy spend,” Polk said. Capstone’s HVAC services report from December says year-to-date M&A activity ending Sept. 30 increased roughly 12% from the prior-year period, whereas overall M&A activity in industrials decreased.

Meanwhile, people-based field services businesses, such as those providing HVAC services, “are one of the more insulated categories [from AI risk],” said Casey Schwartz, managing director at Houlihan Lokey’s business services group and co-head of the facility and residential services practice.

Such businesses are now also attracting attention from some investors who previously did not target the space. Schwartz said he is now getting calls from investors who used to invest solely in software companies.
While leverage for sponsor buyouts can vary depending on factors such as size, end-market diversification, project concentration and dispersion of job-level profitability, HVAC companies can fetch leverage in the 3-5x range or higher for certain rollups, according to Kent Brown, who leads Capstone Partners’ debt advisory group, and Capstone senior director Brad Harrop.

“Over the past decade plus, the private credit market has grown considerably, creating a stockpile of cash in search of quality deal flow in which to deploy it. This supply-demand imbalance within the debt capital markets has created, and sustained, a relatively borrower-friendly environment for the last several years. As a result, ample dry powder is available for quality investment opportunities within the HVAC space,” Brown told Octus.

A fragmented market is among the drivers of M&A activity in the HVAC space, said Alberto Sinesi, a partner at PKF Investment Banking. Likewise, Mark McFadden, co-managing partner at CCMP Growth Advisors, a middle-market-focused private equity firm, said fragmented markets composed of independent operators is a favorable tailwind.

Last year, CCMP Growth acquired Airo Mechanical, an HVAC and plumbing installation services provider for multifamily and light commercial property developers and general contractors in the Southeastern U.S., from an investor group led by Thomas Investments and Stephens Capital Partners. Houlihan Lokey advised CCMP on the transaction and acted as placement agent for a senior secured credit facility to back the deal, according to its website.

“We were particularly excited to invest in Airo Mechanical since it is focused on multifamily installation and replacement in markets where there is growing demand for affordable alternatives to single-family homes,” McFadden said in emailed comments to Octus.

Investors are also drawn to residential HVAC due to factors including powerful lead generation opportunities, Schwartz said. He added that commercial buildings have a large volume of already-installed HVAC systems that will eventually need to be repaired, providing recurring revenue opportunities for commercial-focused firms.

In the residential HVAC services sector, EBITDA arbitrage with platform rollups is a large factor driving deal activity, “where add-ons are being acquired at multiples in the mid-single digits and the larger platforms are trading at multiples in the mid to high teens,” said Don Levy, managing director and a member of the transaction advisory services team at Kroll.

Recent transactions in the sector include Blackstone’s deal announced in February to buy Champions Group, a provider of heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical services to homeowners, from Odyssey Investment Partners, which is retaining a minority stake in the business.

Blackstone obtained more than $1 billion in private credit financing priced at SOFR+ 450 bps to fund the purchase, Bloomberg reported.

Moving forward, investment bankers including Houlihan’s Schwartz and PKF’s Sinesi said they expect robust M&A activity to continue for both the commercial and residential HVAC services sectors this year.

Private Credit Deal of the Week

Clearlake Capital is financing its purchase of pure-play power services firm Qualus from New Mountain Capital with a $1 billion private debt package with pricing of SOFR+475 bps, according to sources.

Apollo, Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Clearlake’s credit arm are leading the financing, which includes a $700 million term loan, a $200 million delayed-draw term loan and a $100 million revolver, according to sources. The transaction will take the company’s leverage just under 7x, sources added.

Octus reported on March 19 that Clearlake was among the financial sponsors circling the sale process for Qualus. Clearlake announced its acquisition of the Lake Mary, Fla.-based company on March 25.

Private Credit Deals
Landscape
People Moves
Funding / Allocations

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