All financial information is in Canadian dollars.
More than 78% of Secure Waste Services shareholders voted on Wednesday to approve GFL Environmental's acquisition offer. The deal is now in the final stages of approval and is set to close in the second half of the year, according to Secure.
The deal partners announced an agreement worth roughly $6.4 billion in April. GFL stands to gain Secure's portfolio of energy waste infrastructure, including 55 liquid waste facilities, 10 metals recycling facilities, a metals shredder and a portfolio of more than a dozen landfills. Secure also has a sizable collection business serving the energy and industrial sectors.
The deal is subject to approval from both U.S. and Canadian regulators since Secure has assets in both countries. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission already cleared the deal for approval on May 5. Canada's Competition Bureau began reviewing the transaction in May, and has not announced its decision yet.
GFL CEO Patrick Dovigi said on the company’s last earnings call on April 30 that he expects the bureau to take three to five months to complete its review of the deal. GFL has previously received the bureau's approval for deals to acquire Aqua-Solve Services and Fielding Environmental in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Investors have had a mixed reaction to the proposal, which came not long after GFL spun off its environmental services business to become a more pure-play waste and recycling business. Secure's energy-related infrastructure is a new business opportunity for GFL, though other large waste companies have also invested in the space. Waste Connections notably acquired a portfolio of energy waste treatment and disposal facilities from Secure in 2023. That transaction was a billion-dollar divestment that cleared the way for Secure to merge with Tervita Corp.
The proposal also met some opposition from a minority shareholder in Secure. Abrams Capital in April announced its intention to vote against the deal, saying the company would be better off continuing as a standalone business. Proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, in contrast, had expressed support for the deal.
Executives from both companies say a merger would boost GFL's underlying financial metrics, thanks in part to Secure's higher-margin business. In a circular to shareholders, Secure management said the deal would increase GFL's adjusted free cash flow conversion to between 40.5% and 42.5%, enabling greater investment in acquisitions or improvements to existing services.
Secure is expected to generate between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion in revenue in 2026, GFL CFO Luke Pelosi said on the company’s earnings call on May 2. The deal is expected to net GFL between $25 million and $50 million in near-term synergies thanks to the two companies’ complementary assets, on top of an additional $25 million in business cost savings, per Pelosi.
The two companies have a history, with GFL routing some of its collected waste to Secure disposal facilities in the past. GFL had also discussed the possibility of acquiring the assets that Secure eventually sold to Waste Connections in 2023. Pelosi said GFL’s bid for those assets was ultimately unsuccessful because it didn’t have the capacity at the time to put up a sufficient offer.
Nevertheless, executives from the two companies remained in touch. Secure explored other merger and acquisition deals, and retained an advisor to consider offers in 2025. During early negotiations with GFL, Secure also heard from “other potential counterparties,” but negotiations never advanced with them.
In August 2025, GFL representatives approached Secure about a potential business combination, according to securities filings from Secure. GFL sent its first non-binding offer to acquire Secure on March 2. The offer was initially an all-share deal, but Secure's leadership later attained a new offer that included a cash component. During the negotiations leading up to the announcement of the deal, the parties discussed impacts from the Iran war and GFL's acquisition of Frontier Waste on GFL's business.
Secure shareholders stand to gain about $24.75 a share in cash, 0.4195 of a GFL subordinate voting share or a mix of the two once the deal goes through. Dovigi previously said he hoped to close the deal before the fourth quarter of this year.
