Gryphon Investors, a leading middle-market private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA, announced today that it has acquired HEPACO, Inc., a leading provider of critical environmental services on both an emergency response and planned basis in the Eastern United States. CEO Ron Horton, Jr. and the other members of HEPACO’s management team have retained a significant ownership position in the Company and will continue to lead HEPACO after the closing of the transaction.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 1984, HEPACO provides emergency response, environmental remediation, maritime services, wastewater treatment, and other industrial services across a diversified group of end markets including rail, oil & gas, transportation, power & utility, and manufacturing. The Company has built an attractive geographic footprint across 20 states in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions and offers a two-hour or less response time within these areas.
The Company most recently opened offices in Jacksonville, FL; Roanoke, VA; Savannah, GA; and Wilmington, NC and plans to open an office in Hagerstown, MD in the next several months. Charlotte, NC-based Carousel Capital acquired the Company in 2011 and supported the Company’s growth into a market leader.
Ron Horton, Jr. stated, “We are delighted to partner with Gryphon as we continue to augment the value we provide our customers with further expansion of both HEPACO’s geographic footprint and its service offerings through organic growth and acquisitions. Gryphon is one of the premier investors in the environmental services sector and has a large capital base with which to support strategic acquisitions and other identified growth initiatives.”
“We are excited to partner with HEPACO, a market leader in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and to provide capital and expertise to support management’s organic growth initiatives and make acquisitions,” said Alex Earls, a Partner at Gryphon and Head of its Business Services Group.
Phil Petrocelli, an Operating Partner at Gryphon and formerly a senior executive at AECOM and emergency response provider OHM, said, “We have been extremely impressed with the Company’s well refined operations, commitment to safety, and strong historical performance, and we look forward to working together with HEPACO’s management team.”
Deloitte Corporate Finance acted as the financial advisor to Gryphon and Piper Jaffray acted as the financial advisor to HEPACO. Moore & Van Allen acted as the legal advisor to Gryphon and K&L Gates, LLP was the legal advisor to HEPACO.
About HEPACO
HEPACO (www.hepaco.com) is a leading provider of emergency response, environmental remediation, maritime services, wastewater treatment, and other industrial services across a diversified group of end markets including rail, oil & gas, transportation, power & utility, and manufacturing. The Company has a broad geographic footprint across 20 states in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States and offers a two-hour or less response time within its footprint. The Company provides services on both an emergency response and planned basis and completed more than 6,250 projects in 2015.
About Gryphon Investors
Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors (www.gryphoninvestors.com) is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. For four consecutive years, Gryphon has been ranked in Preqin’s prestigious quarterly PE report as one of North America’s top-decile firms based on consistency of strong investment returns. With over $2 billion of cumulative equity commitments, the firm has an extensive track record of leading equity investments of $35 million to $150 million per portfolio company with sales ranging from approximately $50 million to $500 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form proactive partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise.
