Arbor Alliance Acquires Thornton’s Tree Service, Its Second Texas Brand

What happened

Arbor Alliance, an Atlanta-based tree care company, announced on May 20, 2026, that it had acquired Thornton’s Tree Service of Abilene, Texas. Thornton’s will continue to be led by its existing leadership. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The seller

Thornton’s Tree Service has worked out of Abilene for more than 30 years, providing residential and commercial tree care across West and Central Texas. Its territory takes in San Angelo, Midland, Odessa, Lubbock, Waco and Wichita Falls, and its customers include homeowners, commercial property owners, HOAs, schools and municipal clients.

The work covers the full run of tree care: trimming and pruning, removals, stump grinding, land clearing, plant health care and 24/7 storm response. What sets it apart is the equipment and the labor model. Thornton’s owns and operates crane equipment for removals that standard rigging cannot reach, runs a fleet of five stump grinders, and keeps an ISA-certified arborist, Riley Holt, on staff. Every job is done by its own crews with its own equipment; the company is not a franchise or a referral service.

The business still trades under the Thornton’s Tree Service name.

The buyer

Arbor Alliance began as Northside Tree Professionals, an Atlanta tree company founded in 1968. Brian Hartman, now Arbor Alliance’s chief executive, acquired Northside in 2022 after leaving BrightView, where he helped launch its tree operations in Georgia. Caravel Capital, an Atlanta investment firm, made a growth equity investment in Northside in April 2025, its first since launching earlier that year.

Northside’s first add-on under Caravel was Holcomb Tree Service in Dallas, in April 2025. Acquisitions in Atlanta and Jacksonville, Florida, followed, and in December 2025 the platform rebranded as Arbor Alliance, with brands in Georgia, Texas and Florida. Thornton’s gave it a second Texas brand.

“Paired with our Holcomb Tree Service presence in Dallas, this acquisition expands our coverage and strengthens our ability to deliver exceptional service to customers across Central Texas,” Hartman said.

Arbor Alliance has since added Druid Tree Service in Nashville, in August 2026, and reports six locations and more than 130 team members across the Southeast.

What this means for tree care owners

For its first year under Caravel, Arbor Alliance’s only Texas brand was in Dallas. Its second is a West Texas operator whose territory runs well beyond Abilene, so tree care owners in the region now compete with a Caravel-backed platform in their own market, under a name their customers already know. The same fact reads differently for an owner thinking about a sale: this buyer kept a regional operator’s name and leadership in place, and the company it bought is built on owned heavy equipment and in-house crews, not on a metro address. Owners weighing whether a buyer like this fits can start with our guide to selling a landscaping or tree care business to private equity.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with tree care businesses in Texas.

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Source: Business Wire - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260520869615/en/Arbor-Alliance-Expands-Its-Presence-in-Texas-Through-Acquisition-of-Thorntons-Tree-Service