Cumberland County Glass, an installer of glass for office buildings, hotels, shopping centers and other commercial projects, has been acquired by a Texas-based competitor.
The Dwyer Group, which is based in Waco and operates Portland Glass in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, purchased the Bowdoinham-based company this month for an undisclosed price.
Cumberland Glass founder and former owner Ken Boucher is now director of commercial accounts for Portland Glass. Boucher said his former company and its 20 employees will continue to operate under the Cumberland name and will serve as the commercial division of Portland Glass.
Portland Glass has a large presence in northern New England with 34 locations in three states. Boucher said his bigger competitor had been interested for a long time in buying him out.
“Portland Glass was chasing me for three years,” he said.
Boucher said he had been pursuing an exit strategy for the 23-year-old business that would ensure its continued operation. Although he has family members involved in the business, Boucher said none of them was interested in taking it over when he retires.
“I wanted to make sure my employees were taken care of as the years progressed,” said Boucher, who is 55.
Some of Cumberland’s notable projects include the Hilton Garden Inn in Portland; the recently renovated Cliff House Maine resort in Cape Neddick; Greely Middle School in Cumberland; and the former Goodall Hospital, now part of Southern Maine Health Care, in Sanford.
Dwyer Group said in a news release that the Cumberland purchase is its seventh acquisition in roughly the past two years, and that it contributes to the expansion of the group’s only non-franchised, corporate-owned network. In addition to operating Portland Glass, Dwyer is also a franchisor of several business chains including Mr. Appliance, Mr. Electric, Mr. Handyman, Mr. Rooter and Molly Maid.
“We are happy to welcome Ken and his employees to Dwyer Group,” Mike Bidwell, the company’s president and CEO, said in the release. “We believe the combined businesses will now be even more competitive in this important commercial glass projects market.”
Boucher said Cumberland customers probably won’t notice any major changes under the new ownership, but that the Dwyer acquisition greatly expands the company’s reach.
“It should make us more competitive in a number of areas,” he said.
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