Ironwood Capital invests in Pro Disposal

Ironwood Capital has announced making an investment in Ridgeland, South Carolina-based Pro Disposal USA LLC. Ironwood says the investment, “will support Pro Disposal’s acquisition of Carolina Containers of Beaufort and Barnwell Resources (CCB),” which it calls a collection and hauling, transfer station and landfill business specializing in C&D materials.

Pro Disposal is described by Ironwood as a vertically integrated waste management service provider permitted to handle waste from initial collection to its transfer station to final disposal. The firm was founded in 2006 and serves communities near the South Carolina coast from Charleston to Hilton Head to Savannah, Georgia.

Ironwood, based in Avon, Connecticut, calls the operating region “an area experiencing significant population growth, contributing to high levels of demand for solid waste management.”

Comments Alex Cano, president of Pro Disposal, “We’re very excited about the acquisition of CCB, as it allows Pro Disposal to achieve full vertical integration and positions the company for future growth through geographic expansion and further penetration of the existing region.”

“Alex is an excellent leader and he and his team have done a tremendous job executing on organic growth, facility expansion and M&A, laser-focused, transforming the company in just two short years since Laurel Mountain Partner’s investment,” says Jeff Kendall, CEO of Laurel Mountain Partners and Pro Disposal.

Joe Ursuy, a Comerica Bank executive vice president involved in the transaction, says, “Since 1996, Comerica has financed several solid waste and environmental business acquisitions throughout North America with Jeff Kendall and Laurel Mountain Partners and are pleased that our partnership continues with this acquisition of CCB.”

Comments Dickson Suit of Ironwood Capital, “Ironwood has made numerous investments in environmental services companies backing proven managers and leaders and is thrilled to once again collaborate with Jeff and Alex, who founded Pro Disposal in 2006 with only two roll-off containers and a single truck. This entrepreneur dynamic, coupled with strong regional market tailwinds in South Carolina and Georgia and an overlapping footprint with the acquisition, make this a highly accretive and exciting transaction.”

Ironwood Capital describes itself as providing non-control growth capital to middle-market companies in the United States, having invested more than $1 billion in more than 100 companies since 2001.