Privately run GFL Environmental Services acquired Plummer's Environmental Services, a family-owned company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The deal was announced on Tuesday by investment bank Charter Capital, which served as Plummer's advisor on the deal.
Plummer's offers industrial and municipal environmental services in Michigan, including transportation, treatment and disposal of material. The company's fleet includes roughly 100 vehicles. It also owns and operates a liquid and solid industrial waste treatment facility that offers chemical separation, solidification, stabilization, dewatering, dissolved air flotation and other services.
“This partnership marks an exciting new chapter for our team and customers,” Todd Plummer, president of Plummer’s Environmental Services, said in a statement. “We’re grateful to Charter Capital for their guidance throughout the process, and we look forward to joining forces with GFL to continue to grow and serve our customers.”
Ontario-based GFL's first step into the U.S. market was in Michigan, when it acquired Rizzo Environmental Services in 2016. The company built on its presence there via the acquisition of vertically integrated American Waste in 2020, though it has since pared back certain hauling contracts.
GFL Environmental Services was spun off from the GFL parent company in a deal with Apollo Global Management and BC Partners announced in January. The publicly traded portion of the GFL business retained a 44% stake in the environmental services business with an option to repurchase in five years.
This is among the first publicly announced deals since GFL Environmental Services went private and separated from its publicly traded parent company in March. It subsequently acquired Minnesota-based OSI Environmental in July.
GFL CEO Patrick Dovigi said spinning off the environmental services division and making it private would allow it to grow more quickly. Dovigi has experience scaling quickly with private equity backing, as he operated GFL as private from its founding in 2007 until its $2.2 billion IPO in 2020. Dovigi said in May the environmental services business would run a 5.5x to 6.0x debt leverage, higher than the company could sustain on the public market.
The environmental services industry segment remains attractive for businesses looking to scale up. Another Canadian environmental services company, E360S, has also said it will enter the U.S. market via M&A.
Publicly traded GFL Environmental is scheduled to hold its next earnings call on Nov. 6.
