VAUGHAN, ON, Oct. 1, 2021 /CNW/ - GFL Environmental Inc.
(NYSE: GFL) (TSX: GFL) ("GFL" or the "Company"), a leading
North American diversified environmental services company, today
provided an update on its year-to-date M&A activity.
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Since July 1, 2021, GFL has
completed 16 acquisitions across its North American platform, for a
total of 31 acquisitions year-to-date. Most recently, GFL acquired
the solid waste management and recycling business of Peoria
Disposal Company and affiliates (collectively, "PDC") on
October 1, 2021. PDC owns a
vertically integrated network of assets in Central Illinois and Eastern Missouri, providing residential,
commercial and industrial solid waste hauling and recycling
services. The operations include three active landfills, two
strategically located transfer stations, one material recovery
facility and a wastewater treatment plant. The acquisition also
includes Peoria City/County
Landfill Number 3, which is expected to begin operations in early
2024. The PDC assets are supported by a fleet of over 350
vehicles and more than 400 employees.
PDC has operated a regional platform for over 90 years under the
ownership of the Coulter family. Royal
Coulter and his son Matt
Coulter will remain with the business on a long-term basis,
while other family members will continue with GFL as consultants
and advisors to assist with the transition.
"We continue to demonstrate our ability to successfully execute
on our growth strategy of pursuing strategic and accretive
acquisitions," said Patrick Dovigi,
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GFL. "The acquisition
of PDC provides us with a unique opportunity to acquire one of the
best family owned and operated vertically integrated set of assets
in the United States, while
expanding our solid waste footprint within the U.S. Midwest. PDC
has a leading market position in a secondary market with some of
the strongest operating margins in our industry." Mr. Dovigi
continued, "The acquisition of PDC also provides us with the
opportunity to advance our sustainability initiatives by unlocking
significant value from landfill gas to energy projects at the PDC
landfills, as part of GFL Renewables."
"After months of family meetings and input from trusted
advisors, we made the difficult decision to put PDC up for sale,"
said Royal Coulter, President and
CEO of PDC. "We ran a process where we interviewed four other
parties and while GFL was not the highest bidder, after spending
two days with Patrick, our family felt that GFL was the right
company to take over PDC and continue the legacy that we have built
in Peoria over the last 93 years."
Mr. Coulter concluded, "It is clear to us that GFL shares the same
core values as PDC: entrepreneurial spirit, operational excellence,
a focus on safety and a commitment to giving back to the
communities that it serves. I am excited to be part of GFL's next
chapter."
On October 1, 2021, GFL also
closed the acquisition of the Alabama Dumpster group of companies
("Alabama Dumpster"). Alabama Dumpster provides commercial and
roll-off solid waste and recycling services and landfill operations
in the State of Alabama.
"As part of our growth strategy, we have focused on densifying
our existing footprint," said Mr. Dovigi. "The Alabama Dumpster
assets complement the businesses we acquired last fall through the
acquisition of WCA Waste Corporation and the Waste
Management/Advanced Disposal merger. In addition, during the third
quarter of 2021, we acquired hauling operations from Waste
Management in Chicoutimi, Quebec,
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and
Western Canada, as well as the
Dafter, Michigan Landfill, further
increasing our size and scale within these markets."
GFL also announced today that it has sold certain solid waste
assets in and around the Chicago,
Illinois market and Rochester,
Minnesota, other than the Zion Landfill, for aggregate
proceeds of approximately US$72.5
million (C$92.0 million). As
part of the transaction, the purchaser and GFL entered into several
disposal arrangements, including a 10-year disposal agreement for
450,000 tons per annum at the Zion Landfill. This sale, together
with the previously announced sale of certain assets in
Pennsylvania and Maryland, brings GFL's total proceeds from
asset sales to US$122.5 million
(C$155.1 million) for the year.
Said Mr. Dovigi, "The sale of these non-core assets is
consistent with our previously stated strategy of redeploying
capital into organic and inorganic initiatives in our key growth
markets. Given the footprint we now have, we will continue to
concentrate on investing in markets where we expect to achieve the
highest returns on our invested capital."
GFL financed the acquisitions completed since July 1, 2021 through its recent bond offerings,
drawings under its upsized credit facility, the asset sales
described above and cash on hand.
Mr. Dovigi continued, "At the beginning of the year, we provided
guidance that included opportunities to acquire up to C$280 million of revenue through incremental
M&A. With the 31 acquisitions closed year to date, together
with another acquisition expected to close in mid-October, we have
deployed C$2.2 billion to acquire
approximately C$715 million of
revenue, or C$340 million of revenue
excluding the acquisition of Terrapure Environmental Ltd., well in
excess of the opportunities that that we saw at the beginning of
the year." Mr. Dovigi concluded, "We still see upside opportunities
ahead of us for the fourth quarter resulting from the robust
M&A pipeline that we manage. As we look to the end of 2021, we
will continue to execute on our acquisition strategy, relying on
our recently completed financing initiatives, including an equity
commitment of up to US$300 million
from affiliates of HPS Investment Partners, LLC, to maintain our
current credit rating profile and leverage within previously stated
ranges. We will also remain focused on organically growing our
business, realizing operational efficiencies and extracting
synergies from our scalable platform, all with a view to increasing
our free cash flow and creating long-term value for all of our
stakeholders."
About GFL
GFL, headquartered in Vaughan,
Ontario, is the fourth largest diversified environmental
services company in North America,
providing a comprehensive line of non-hazardous solid waste
management, infrastructure & soil remediation and liquid waste
management services through its platform of facilities throughout
Canada and in 27 states in
the United States. Across its
organization, GFL has a workforce of more than 17,000
employees.
Forward-Looking Information
This release includes certain "forward-looking statements".
In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking
statements can be identified by the use of forward looking
terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not
expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned",
"estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not
anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases
or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could",
"would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be
achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations,
projections or other characterizations of future events or
circumstances contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are not historical facts, nor guarantees or assurances
of future performance but instead represent management's current
beliefs, expectations, estimates and projections regarding future
events and operating performance. Forward-looking statements are
necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and
estimates that, while considered reasonable by GFL as of the date
of this release, are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and
changes in circumstances that may differ materially from those
contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Important factors
that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially,
from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, the "Risk Factors" section of GFL's annual
report for the 2020 fiscal year filed on Form 20-F and GFL's other
periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
and the securities commissions or similar regulatory authorities in
Canada. These factors are not
intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could
affect GFL. However, such risk factors should be considered
carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and
assumptions will prove to be correct. You should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date of this release. GFL undertakes no obligation to publicly
update any forward-looking statement, except as required by
applicable securities laws. References to "GFL", the "Company",
"we", "its" and "our", include references to GFL and its
subsidiaries as applicable. References to "C$" or "$" mean Canadian
dollars and references to "US$" mean U.S. dollars.
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SOURCE GFL Environmental Inc.