Graebel CEO Ron Dunlap said the company has joined forces with Reside Worldwide under new private equity backing because its clients were moving faster than a family-owned business could.
“The truth was we were in an unbelievably healthy place financially, but as a family-owned business, we could only move so fast,” Dunlap, a 17-year Graebel veteran who now serves as CEO of the combined companies, told Ben Cross on Love+Relo. He was joined by Lee Curtis, Reside’s co-founder and now the chief M&A officer. “Our clients, they were moving so much faster than what we were able to do. So, we had to do something different.”
Seattle-based Reside provides short- and extended-stay accommodations, offering access to more than 3.4 million vetted properties in over 60 countries through its 3Sixty platform, and operates the Reside, a Wyndham Residence brand in partnership with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. Westbridge Capital, a Canadian private equity firm that has backed Reside since 2017, now supports the combined business alongside the Graebel family’s continued investment.
Graebel spoke with a significant number of potential partners before choosing Westbridge, which Dunlap said stood out for its long-term “hold period is forever” approach. He recalled Westbridge President and CEO Mike Meekins telling him, “You are now free to run as fast as you can.” The companies announced September 2 that they had combined under common ownership, with Graebel and Reside both continuing as operating entities.
The merger is unlikely to be the last addition. In the announcement, Meekins described the deal as “the first step on that path, with additional opportunities on the horizon.” Curtis, whose new role puts him in charge of dealmaking, said the company is looking at “a lot of other things” and that its acquisition pipeline “is very active right now,” while Dunlap said Graebel is also building new businesses itself, with growth coming through “buy, build or hybrid.” But Dunlap rejected size as a goal. “We’re not going to buy our way to being the biggest,” he said. “If we become the largest, it’s because we’ve earned it, not because we bought it.”
The combined company’s future name is also undecided. Asked by Cross whether the business would be known as Graebel, Reside, or something new, Curtis said, “We’re in a live exercise on that one right now.” He said the answer depends on more than the two current companies, given the other opportunities being explored, and that while there is no rush to decide, the eventual branding “likely won’t look like this.”
IAM Member Impact: Graebel has committed to continuity for existing client relationships and to preserving supplier neutrality and choice, so current supply partners should see little immediate change. Longer term, with new capital and an active acquisition pipeline, the company will favor partners who can grow with it. Members should consider which adjacent services they could realistically offer and watch for further deals and a possible rebrand as the combined company builds out its ecosystem.
Source: Graebel-Reside Press Release; Love+Relo