Environmental Services Acquisitions in 2019

Smithereen Pest Management Services acquired Service Termite & Pest Control (transaction completed end of 2019, announced Jan. 30, 2020), expanding Smithereen's footprint into Danville and Champaign‑Urbana, Illinois and Crawfordsville, Indiana. The deal brings Service Termite customers under Smithereen's integrated pest management platform while maintaining local service continuity.

AEA Investors' Small Business Fund completed the carveout acquisition of Univar Solutions' Environmental Sciences Business (ES). Headquartered in Austin, Texas, ES is a leading distributor of pest-control products and technical services with ~70 North American locations serving thousands of local service providers; AEA intends to grow the business and expand into adjacent markets leveraging its footprint and vendor relationships.

On December 23, 2019 Prairie Capital VI, LP partnered with Rising Point Capital to acquire Fairway Lawns, a Little Rock-based provider of residential lawn treatment and pest control services. The investment backed a buyout of the company’s founders and supported management to accelerate growth through investments in people, sales and marketing, infrastructure, and add-on acquisitions; at the time Fairway served over 40,000 customers from 12 lawn-treatment and 2 pest-control locations across six states.

McCarthy Capital has recapitalized Bigbelly (Big Belly Solar), providing cash to accelerate growth and support product development. The investment will help Bigbelly expand market penetration for its smart, solar-powered waste and recycling systems and develop new capabilities, including hosting wireless communications technologies such as 4G LTE and 5G.

Sterling Investment Partners’ portfolio company HeartLand, LLC acquired three commercial landscape and facilities services providers — Heritage Landscape Services, Landscape Concepts Management and Snowmen365 — expanding HeartLand’s footprint in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Kansas City. The acquisitions are add-ons to HeartLand’s multi-market platform as Sterling continues to grow the company since its initial investment in 2019.

Union Park Capital has acquired Earth Networks, a Germantown, Maryland-based provider of environmental intelligence and the world’s largest hyperlocal weather network. Earth Networks will join Union Park’s Advanced Environmental Monitoring (AE Monitoring) platform to expand its sensing, data and analytics capabilities; terms were not disclosed.

Bland Landscaping Company, a North Carolina full‑service commercial landscaping provider based in Apex, has acquired Landmark Landscape Services of Huntersville, North Carolina. The deal adds a key branch location north of Charlotte and expands Bland's maintenance and irrigation capabilities and regional footprint.

Wind River Environmental, backed by Gryphon Investors, has acquired Cooke's Plumbing & Septic Services, a full-service grease trap, septic, drain cleaning and plumbing operator based in Stuart, Florida. The acquisition (an add-on) expands Wind River's footprint and capabilities in Southeast Florida; Cooke's has more than 30 employees and serves residential and commercial customers across Martin and Saint-Lucie counties.

Pace Analytical Services, LLC acquired Shealy Environmental Services, Inc., a full-service environmental testing laboratory based in West Columbia, South Carolina. The acquisition expands Pace’s laboratory network and PFAS testing and federal program capabilities in the Southeast U.S.; Shealy’s management will remain on site to lead the location.

Wind River Environmental, a Gryphon Investors–backed provider of non-hazardous liquid waste solutions, acquired Select Processing of Orlando, a three-acre permitted facility that processes septic, lift station and grease trap waste. The acquisition expands Wind River’s footprint and disposal capabilities in central Florida as part of its planned regional consolidation strategy.

Natural Systems Utilities (NSU) has completed the acquisition of the Acqualogic/Kanso water and wastewater operations and maintenance business, assuming all O&M contracts for 28 on-site systems in the San Francisco Bay Area. The deal expands NSU's presence into the South Bay region and increases its operating density as it continues to grow its national portfolio of on-site community water and wastewater systems.

Xllnc Group AB, majority owned by Norvestor VII, L.P., has acquired REPLACE OÜ, a European mobile and IT equipment recycling and refurbishing provider founded in Estonia. The deal makes Xllnc a leading sustainable IT services provider in the Nordics by adding recycling, refurbishing and re-marketing capabilities and bringing the combined group to more than 1 million devices under management and ~SEK 3.2 billion pro forma revenues in 2019.

GIC has purchased a 9.9% minority stake in Anticimex from the EQT VI fund in a transaction valuing the company at approximately EUR 3.6 billion. EQT remains the controlling owner; the investment is intended to internationalize Anticimex's shareholder base and accelerate the company’s expansion in Asia and further development of its digital pest-control capabilities.

US Ecology, Inc. completed an all-stock merger with NRC Group Holdings Corp., combining US Ecology's hazardous and industrial waste services with NRC's nationwide emergency response and oil & gas disposal capabilities. The transaction creates a larger, nationwide environmental services leader, expands service verticals and landfill disposal capabilities in key Gulf basins, and is expected to drive cross-selling opportunities and operational synergies.

Funds managed by Harvest Partners have acquired Yellowstone Landscape from CIVC Partners. Yellowstone, a Palm Coast, Florida–headquartered commercial landscaping company serving over 5,000 customers from ~40 branches across the South and Southwest, will continue to be led by CEO Tim Portland and existing management who remain significant owners.

Pritchard Industries, a portfolio company of A&M Capital Partners II (part of the Alvarez & Marsal Capital platform), has acquired a majority interest in Professional Management of Alabama, Inc. (PMA), a Birmingham-based regional provider of janitorial and facilities services founded in 1987. The acquisition expands Pritchard's presence in Alabama (adding Montgomery coverage), strengthens its industrial and medical facility capabilities, and scales its commercial janitorial footprint in the region.

Greenrise Technologies, a Boyne Capital portfolio company, has acquired Southern Nurseries, a Nashville-area manufacturer and supplier of engineered biofiltration soils branded as Holy Cow! Soils. The add-on expands Greenrise's product portfolio and manufacturing capability for green roof and stormwater-management applications and will support geographic expansion in the Central Tennessee region.

New Capital Partners (NCP), a Birmingham-based private equity firm, has partnered with SMR Worldwide, an IT asset disposition (ITAD) and e-waste solutions provider headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The investment will support SMR's (rebranded later as Sprout) expansion of facilities, rollout of new software-driven solutions, and capability growth to serve enterprise customers.

Collard Group Ltd completed the acquisition of Raymond Brown Waste Solutions Ltd (the waste division of Raymond Brown Group) on 18 October, combining two major waste-management businesses in southern England. The deal expands Collard Group’s geographic footprint, fleet and processing capacity — the enlarged group will operate nine recycling centres across five counties, employ over 400 staff and have turnover in excess of £50 million.

NMS Capital has recapitalized JAFLO, Inc., taking a significant equity stake and partnering with management to establish JAFLO as the firm’s initial vegetation management platform. JAFLO — a Allentown, Pennsylvania–based vegetation management services provider with over 550 employees serving utilities and transportation customers in the Northeast and Midwest — will continue to be led by President Kelly Clapper while founder John (Jay) P. Florio transitions to the board.

Wind River Environmental, a Gryphon Investors-backed provider of non-hazardous liquid waste solutions, has acquired Gibson Septic Tank Services, a family-owned septic and grease-trap service operator headquartered in North Fort Myers, Florida. The deal expands Wind River's footprint in Southwest Florida and adds grease trap pumping, septic pumping and septic system repair capabilities to its local platform.

Victor Capital Partners has made a minority growth investment in CodeGreen Solutions, a New York–based provider of energy management and sustainability services for commercial real estate. The capital will support CodeGreen’s geographic expansion, innovation in technology-enabled services (including its ProAct software), and pursuit of add-on acquisitions while management retains a significant ownership stake.

PuroClean CEO & Chairman Mark W. Davis and Vice Chairman Frank Torre acquired the remaining 20% of the PuroClean franchise system from the company's prior owners, making them 100% owners. The transaction formalizes ownership consolidation after four years of leadership during which the franchise network expanded to roughly 290+ locations across the United States and Canada.

Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners, together with Tanknology management, has recapitalized Tanknology, the Austin-based global leader in underground storage tank testing, inspection and compliance management. The recapitalization will support expansion of services, new testing technologies and continued growth of Tanknology's national field network and proprietary compliance software.

AEA Investors' Middle Market Private Equity team has closed the acquisition of BMS Enterprises, a Fort Worth-based provider of fire, water and reconstruction restoration services. AEA will back BMS — which operates 17 U.S. branches and a national catastrophe team and employs roughly 850 people — to support continued organic growth and expansion of its restoration and reconstruction capabilities.

Wind River Environmental, a Gryphon Investors‑backed environmental services platform headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, acquired Bishop‑Thiem Septic Services, a family‑owned septic and grease‑trap services provider based in Fayetteville, Georgia. The add‑on deal expands Wind River’s coverage in the Atlanta market and strengthens its ability to service residential, commercial and municipal customers in the region.

ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. has acquired Nomor Holding AB from Norvestor VI, L.P. Nomor, headquartered in Sollentuna, Sweden, is a leading Nordic pest control and food-safety services provider (fourth largest in Europe) with ~SEK 500 million in revenue after a buy-and-build program under Norvestor.

Westport, Connecticut-based Sterling Investment Partners made a majority equity investment in HeartLand, LLC, a Kansas City-based commercial landscape management platform, in partnership with HeartLand management. The transaction represents Great Range Capital’s sale of its portfolio company after building HeartLand through multiple regional acquisitions; Sterling will partner with management to support continued growth across the Midwest and Mountain West.

Sterling Investment Partners has made a majority equity investment in HeartLand, a commercial landscape and facilities services platform headquartered in Kansas City. The partnership with founder Edward Schatz Jr. and management will support HeartLand’s plans to scale and expand its geographic reach across the Central United States; terms were not disclosed.

Kinderhook Industries has acquired Capital Waste Services, a Columbia, South Carolina-based regional solid waste hauling company, from Hawk Capital Partners. The acquisition—Kinderhook's ninth environmental services platform—will support growth through investments in people, equipment and systems while maintaining existing management and municipal contracts; financial terms were not disclosed.

Kinderhook Industries, a New York-based private investment firm, acquired Chemtron Corporation, a hazardous and non-hazardous waste management provider headquartered in Avon, Ohio, from Cleveland private equity firm CapitalWorks. Financial terms were not disclosed; Kinderhook said the acquisition expands its environmental services platform and adds Chemtron's diverse treatment, processing and railcar/ISO container capabilities to its portfolio.

J.F. Lehman & Company’s investment affiliate has acquired Lone Star Disposal, L.P., Delta Waste Services, L.P. and Tanner Road Facility, L.P. (together, "Lone Star"), a vertically integrated provider of C&D and MSW disposal and related environmental services based in Houston, Texas. The acquisition expands JFLCO’s environmental services platform and will be supported by debt financing from Monroe Capital, with legal and financial advisors engaged on both sides.

GPRS, a portfolio company of CIVC Partners, has acquired the utility locating business of Master Locators, Inc., expanding GPRS' presence in the Northeastern United States. The deal brings Master Locators' regional team and leadership (including COO Kyle Sareyka joining GPRS as Northeast Regional Director) into GPRS to add scale across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.

American AllWaste LLC, a NewHold Enterprises platform, acquired the assets of Onsite Environmental, a Tennessee-based provider of non-hazardous liquid waste hauling and treatment services. The asset purchase expands AllWaste's non-hazardous liquid waste platform in the Southeast and adds capabilities such as brown grease recovery; financial terms were not disclosed.

Wind River Environmental, a Gryphon Investors-backed environmental services platform, acquired Mahopac Septic, Inc., a family-owned septic and grease trap services provider in Mahopac, New York. The add-on expands Wind River's coverage in southern New York, allowing the buyer to better serve commercial and residential customers in the region.

Restoration + Recovery (R+R), a portfolio company of DFW Capital Partners, has acquired the assets of DGC Environmental Services, Inc., a Florida-based stormwater services provider. The add-on expands R+R's presence across the Southeastern United States and strengthens its stormwater inspection, maintenance and repair capabilities.

Pete & Pete Container Services, Inc. has acquired Boyas Excavating, Inc., the largest privately held construction and demolition (C&D) landfill in Northeast Ohio. Brown Gibbons Lang & Company advised Pete & Pete on the transaction and financing was provided by Comerica Bank, Huntington Bank, and Ironwood Capital; terms were not disclosed. The deal creates a vertically integrated C&D platform serving Northeast Ohio.

Pritzker Private Capital has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Valicor Environmental Services from Wind Point Partners. Valicor, based in Monroe, Ohio, is a leading North American provider of non-hazardous wastewater treatment and related liquid-waste services serving over 5,000 customers; management will remain in place and the deal was expected to close in July 2019.

Blue Point Capital Partners and its Blue Point IV portfolio company, TAS Environmental Services, acquired Frac‑N‑Vac Tanks and Duckwater Services, a regional provider of roll‑off boxes, transportation, washout and wastewater disposal services. These are TAS’s first two add‑on acquisitions since Blue Point acquired the TAS platform in May 2019 and expand TAS’s geographic footprint across Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Boston-based private equity firm Anvil Capital completed a majority recapitalization of Leahy Landscaping, Inc., with the founder retaining a significant equity stake. Provident Bank provided senior debt for the deal while Spring Capital provided subordinated debt and preferred stock to support the recapitalization and growth plans.

Certified Recycling acquired DC Environmental, a Southern California provider of waste management solutions and recycling consulting services for property managers, landlords and real estate firms. The add-on expands Certified's waste solution offering and diversifies its recycling services; DCE is the second add-on for Certified as it continues to pursue West Coast acquisitions.

Concierge Building Services, an independent sponsor, has acquired Kleen-Tech, a commercial janitorial and custodial services provider. The deal positions Kleen-Tech as a platform for growth under Concierge’s plan to professionalize and modernize operations while enabling liquidity for Kleen-Tech’s shareholders.

Ancor Capital Partners acquired LSC Environmental (headquartered in Apalachin, New York) from L2 Capital Partners in May 2019; terms were not disclosed. Midwest Mezzanine provided subordinated debt and equity to support Ancor's investment; L2 said the sale represented a realization of its 2011 investment after executing transformational changes and an add-on under its ownership.

Assurance Mezzanine Fund (Assurance Capital) completed an investment in Millennium Grounds and Waters, LLC (d/b/a Millennium Services of Florida). Millennium, founded in 1997, provides commercial grounds maintenance, landscape design and installation, irrigation services and traffic-project maintenance across Central Florida; the investment is a mezzanine/growth capital placement to support the business.

Gold Medal Group, a portfolio company of Kinderhook Industries, has acquired Earthtech Contracting, a Woodbine, New Jersey-based provider of trash and recycling collection services. The acquisition expands Gold Medal's operations in southern New Jersey and is the sixth add-on for Gold Medal under Kinderhook's ownership.

Aurubis AG has agreed to acquire Metallo Holdings 3 B.V. (Metallo Group), a Belgian–Spanish non‑ferrous metals recycling and refining group, from TowerBrook Capital Partners. Metallo operates main sites in Belgium and Spain with ~530 employees and reported approximately €985 million revenue in FY2018; the purchase price announced was €380 million and the deal is subject to merger control clearance.

Silver Peak Partners completed an investment in The Cleaning Guys, a Fort Worth, Texas–headquartered emergency response and hazardous/non‑hazardous materials remediation and waste disposal company. Midwest Mezzanine Funds and Eagle Private Capital provided subordinated debt and equity co‑investment to support Silver Peak’s buyout of the business.

Vecta Environmental Services, a Gulf Coast industrial and environmental services platform backed by Cotton Creek Capital, has acquired Holeshot Services, LLC, a Lake Charles, Louisiana-based provider of hydroblasting, hydro-excavation, vacuum truck and tank cleaning services. The add-on expands Vecta's footprint and equipment capacity in Southeastern Texas and Southern Louisiana, increasing its operating locations to seven and strengthening service capability for industrial, chemical and environmental customers along the Gulf Coast.

Blue Point Capital Partners (via its Blue Point IV fund), in partnership with TAS management, recapitalized TAS Environmental Services, a Fort Worth, Texas–based environmental and industrial services platform operating across 13 locations in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The recapitalization provides liquidity and a partnership to support TAS’s growth strategy, including strategic add-on acquisitions and continued geographic/service expansion; financial terms were not disclosed.

LDC has invested £20 million to back a management buyout of Shield Group International (SGI) from Kiwa. The capital will support SGI's independence and a buy-and-build strategy to accelerate organic growth and add complementary environmental testing, inspection and health & safety services across Europe and internationally.