Mergers & Acquisitions

Republic Services to acquire ReCommunity

Republic Services Inc., Phoenix, has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ReCommunity Holdings II Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina. Republic says Re- Community’s assets and expertise will complement its existing recycling collection and processing operations and will enable the company to meet its customers’ growing demand for recycling in multiple markets.

The acquisition involves 26 recycling centers in 14 states, primarily in locations where Republic maintains a leading market presence. Combined, these facilities recover approximately 1.6 million tons of recycled commodities annually. The transaction also includes the assumption of multiple long-term municipal agreements with processing fee-based structures, which aligns with Republic’s recycling pricing model.

“We believe this transaction will enable us to meet growing customer demand for recycling services while achieving one of our key sustainability goals,” says Republic CEO Don Slager. “Recycling continues to be one of the fastest growing segments of the waste stream, and our focus remains on investing in traditional recycling in select and prioritized markets where customers have demonstrated both a demand and a willingness to pay for recycling.”

“Through the use of innovation and technology, ReCommunity has developed state-of-the-art recycling processing capabilities in select markets, enabling communities to recover valuable commodities from the waste stream and achieve their sustainability goals,” says Dennis McGill, ReCommunity CEO. “With this acquisition, we are joining a company committed to the same environmental and community ideals and will be able to deliver a broader range of services to our customers.”

As part of its Blue Planet sustainability platform, Republic has a goal of adding 150,000 tons or more per year of recycling capacity by 2018. Republic currently operates 64 recycling centers nationwide, which recover approximately 2.5 million tons of recycled commodities annually.

Hidden Harbor Capital Partners acquires Stella Environmental Holdings

Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, an operationally focused private equity firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, specializing in control investments in lower-middle-market companies, has announced the acquisition of Houston-based Stella Environmental Holdings Inc. Prior to the purchase, Stella was a division of Action Resources, Birmingham, Alabama.

Founded in 1992, Stella provides transfer station management and municipal waste logistics services. The company’s services include facility management, hauling and loading, which it provides to municipal solid waste and transportation customers nationwide.

“Stella has positioned itself as the preferred service provider in its core markets, with a reputation for delivering exceptional service, quality and results to its customers,” says Chris Paldino, a founding partner at Hidden Harbor. “We are excited about Stella’s prospects for continued growth and geographical expansion.”

Hidden Harbor’s acquisition of the company closed Aug. 18, 2017. Monroe Capital, Chicago, provided financing for the transaction, while Raymond James Financial, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, served as an advisor to Stella.

“Stella is eager to partner with Hidden Harbor, which will bring the resources and capital to continue our strong record of performance and support our next phase of growth,” says Wilfred Roth, CEO of Stella Environmental. “As a standalone business, we will continue to provide our best-in-class customer service to our long-standing customer base.”

Stella’s services include loading and transporting waste from in-town processing facilities to remote landfills, integrated waste companies and municipalities across various states.

Transfer stations are a vital part of the waste collection and disposal process, according to Stella, helping to improve the efficiency of the overall waste stream and reducing capital requirements and operating costs for the customers the company services.

EDL purchases US landfill-gas-to-energy operations

Australia-based global energy business Energy Developments Pty Ltd. (EDL) has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Granger Energy Services landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) business in the U.S.

Granger Energy has 16 operating sites concentrated in the Great Lakes region of the U.S., with a total installed capacity of 85 megawatts electric (MWe). The Granger Energy business is highly contracted, with strong counterparties and long-term contracts, EDL says.

The transaction increases the scale of EDL’s North American LFGTE operations from 12 to 28 sites and will more than double U.S. earnings. It increases EDL’s North American assets to around 200 megawatts (MW), making EDL one of the top three LFGTE businesses in North America, the company says.

“The acquisition of Granger Energy is an excellent strategic fit for EDL,” James Harman, EDL CEO, says. “It complements our existing North American LFGTE operations both geographically and operationally with a broadening of skillsets, greater depth of engineering, well field management and sales expertise.”

He adds, “As a result of the increased scale and operating resources we have now acquired, we see further potential for EDL to grow both its North American LFGTE and remote area power generation businesses.”

Fourteen of Granger Energy’s operations are on open landfills, providing EDL growth opportunities as waste and gas volumes increase over time, the company says. The three largest landfill operations are expected to produce gas for the next 40 years.