An Atlanta-area home-services company that has served metro customers for 37 years has a new corporate parent. Champions Group Holdings announced on Wednesday that it acquired Bardi Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electric, a deal the company says marks its first entry into the southeastern United States.
According to Champions Group's announcement, Bardi will retain its brand identity and keep operating under its existing name following the transaction. Champions Group describes itself as an Orange County, California-based provider of residential heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical services, building a national network of home-services businesses focused on residential maintenance, repair and installation, as detailed by Pulse 2.0.
Bardi itself traces its roots to 1989, when founder Alex Bardi, an engineer, started the company after a financial setback, according to Bardi's own account of its history. Over the years the company grew beyond its original HVAC focus to add plumbing, electrical, insulation, indoor air quality and water purification services, the same company history notes.
A Multi-Trade Playbook Champions Group Has Used Before
This is not the first time Champions Group has folded a locally known, multi-trade operator into its portfolio. In January, the company announced its acquisition of Lex Cooling, Heating, Plumbing & Electrical, a North Texas provider founded in 2004 that, like Bardi, was allowed to keep its name after the deal closed, per the same announcement. Champions Group described that earlier purchase as part of a strategy to expand service in high-demand markets nationwide.
Champions Group CEO Frank DiMarco struck a similar note with the Bardi deal, saying the company looks forward to “supporting their team and investing in the things that have made them a trusted name in this community.” Pulse 2.0 reported that DiMarco also said Bardi has built a special Atlanta team that treats customers like family, and that Champions Group is proud to welcome the company as it establishes a Southeast presence.
Bardi President Adam Bardi framed the arrangement as a cultural match rather than just a financial one. “Champions Group operates the same way, which made this partnership a natural fit,” he said, according to the prnewswire.com release. Pulse 2.0's reporting adds that Bardi emphasized alignment in customer service philosophies between the two companies and voiced interest in further regional expansion, with Bardi saying he is excited about building together as they expand across the Southeast.
Why The Southeast, And Why Now
Champions Group has identified the Southeast as strategically important to its national growth, according to Pulse 2.0's reporting on the deal, and the Bardi purchase gives the company its first operating foothold in the region. The acquisition is meant to establish a regional platform for future growth while preserving Bardi's local identity, the outlet reported.
The deal lands amid a busy stretch of dealmaking across the home-services sector. An industry analysis from BDR found that 223 residential-services acquisitions were announced or completed in 2026 through early October, with private-equity sponsors behind 60.5% of them. HVAC, plumbing and electrical businesses specifically made up 19.3% of those deals, the same analysis found — the exact trio of trades Bardi and Champions Group both operate in.
Champions Group's own expansion has drawn interest well beyond its local markets. In February, Blackstone announced an agreement to acquire Champions Group itself, though Blackstone's announcement did not disclose financial terms and said the transaction was expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to customary conditions. That deal concerns ownership of Champions Group as a whole and is separate from the Bardi transaction.
Terms of the Bardi acquisition were not disclosed. For now, Atlanta-area customers who have relied on Bardi's technicians for nearly four decades can expect the same name on the truck, even as the company becomes part of a far larger, California-rooted operation with its eyes on growth across the Southeast.
