Reedy Industries, the Schaumburg, Illinois-based commercial HVAC, chilled water, plumbing, building automation, and controls services company, has been operating under its Partners Group ownership as PremiStar — a rebrand that gives the 90-year-old platform a unified identity across its more than 1,500 employees serving 9,000 customers across ten states. Partners Group acquired Reedy from Audax Private Equity in August 2021, following Audax's 15 add-on acquisitions during its 2019 to 2021 hold.
PremiStar is one of the quieter but more established names in commercial HVAC services consolidation. A company with 90 years of operating history, 1,500 employees, 9,000 customers, and ten-state coverage is not a startup platform — it is a mature commercial HVAC services business with the operational depth that comes from nine decades of mission-critical customer service.
What PremiStar Does
PremiStar provides mission-critical maintenance, repair, and replacement services for commercial HVAC, chilled water systems, plumbing, building automation, and controls equipment. The mission-critical focus — serving customers in healthcare, data centres, government, industrial, and institutional facilities where HVAC failure has immediate operational consequences — is the same strategic positioning that Service Logic and Comfort Systems USA have built their platforms around.
Key platform characteristics:
• Founded 1930: 90+ years of commercial HVAC service history in the Midwest and expanding geographies
• 1,500+ employees across the platform
• 9,000 customers — a large commercial customer base reflecting decades of relationship building
• 10 states: Platform coverage extending from the Midwest foundation into broader US geographies through Audax's 15 add-ons and continued Partners Group expansion
• Mission-critical focus: Healthcare, data centres, industrial, and institutional customers who pay premium service rates for reliability
Reedy Industries, operating as PremiStar under Partners Group ownership since August 2021, provides mission-critical commercial HVAC, chilled water, plumbing, and building automation services to 9,000 customers across 10 states through 1,500+ employees — a 90-year operating history making it one of the most experienced commercial HVAC platforms in the sector.
The Audax-to-Partners Group Transition
The Audax Private Equity to Partners Group ownership transition in August 2021 is a textbook sponsor-to-sponsor transaction in commercial HVAC. Audax built the platform over 15 acquisitions during a 2 to 3 year hold, assembling geographic coverage and customer breadth that made the business attractive to a larger, longer-horizon investor like Partners Group.
Partners Group is a Zug, Switzerland-based private markets firm managing more than $150 billion in assets. Like Blackstone's BXPE perpetual vehicle, Partners Group often holds investments longer than traditional PE funds — making it an appropriate owner for a 90-year-old commercial services business whose value compounds through customer relationship depth rather than rapid financial engineering.
The subsequent expansion under Partners Group — continuing add-on acquisitions across Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, Indiana, and Wisconsin — confirms that the platform build-out continues rather than plateauing after the sponsor transition.
What Makes a 90-Year Operating History Strategically Valuable
In commercial HVAC services, longevity is a genuine competitive advantage — not just a marketing statement. A company that has been serving commercial customers for 90 years has:
• Multi-generational customer relationships: Building operators and facility managers who learned to call Reedy/PremiStar from their predecessors are the most loyal and hardest-to-switch customer segment in the industry
• Institutional equipment knowledge: Nine decades of working on commercial buildings means PremiStar technicians have institutional knowledge of building systems that no new entrant can replicate
• Community relationships: Forty years of being the commercial HVAC provider in a market creates supplier relationships, subcontractor networks, and regulatory familiarity that new market entrants spend years developing
Frequently Asked Questions
What is PremiStar?
PremiStar is the operating name for Reedy Industries, a 90-year-old commercial HVAC, chilled water, plumbing, and building automation services company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. The platform serves 9,000 customers across 10 states with 1,500+ employees and is owned by Partners Group, which acquired it from Audax Private Equity in August 2021.
Who owns Reedy Industries/PremiStar?
Partners Group, a Zug, Switzerland-based private markets firm managing more than $150 billion in assets, has owned Reedy Industries/PremiStar since August 2021. The firm continues to expand the platform through add-on acquisitions across its 10-state coverage area.
