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Clearlake Capital Among Bidders for New Mountain’s Qualus
Clearlake Capital is one of the financial sponsors circling the auction process for Qualus Corp., a pure-play power services firm, according to sources.
Other bidders are also in the running to acquire the New Mountain Capital-backed company, the sources said, with one noting that the asset could fetch 12x to 15x EBITDA in the event of a sale.
Clearlake is reaching out to private lenders to raise debt to support its bid, according to sources, with one adding that the financing might also include a preferred equity component.
Lake Mary, Fla.-based Qualus provides pure-play power services to clients in the utilities, electric power grid infrastructure, commercial and industrial site industries. The company also serves data centers.
New Mountain acquired Qualus from Mason Wells in 2021.Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Qualus has completed several acquisitions under New Mountain’s ownership, including Planet Forward Energy Solutions, or PFES, in December 2024. The deal was supported by a preferred equity investment in the $100 million to $150 million range from Goldman Sachs Alternatives Hybrid Capital Group, Octus reported.
In 2025, Qualus’ deals included its acquisition of the North American transmission and distribution engineering business of John Wood Group plc for $110 million, or 14.9x adjusted EBITDA. Qualus also bought Aquawolf from Mammoth Energy in a $30 million deal and purchased dk Engineering and ADM Associates.
Blackstone Private Credit Fund and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund hold a portion of a SOFR+425 bps first lien loan to Qualus Power Services Corp. that matures in March 2028, according to Octus’ BDC Database. Meanwhile, Lord Abbett Private Credit Fund is listed as a lender in the company’s SOFR+500 bps first lien loan due March 2028, said the same database.
Recent M&A activity in the utility services sector includes Gryphon Investors’ sale of electrical testing, engineering and maintenance services company Shermco to Blackstone for about $1.6 billion last October. Shermco bought Power Quality Engineering this month.
Average pricing for senior direct lending facilities to back leveraged buyouts in the industrials sector tightened to SOFR+488.78 bps in the fourth quarter of 2025 from SOFR+511.83 bps in the third quarter, according to Octus’ Private Credit dashboard.
New Mountain and Clearlake declined to comment. A Qualus representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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