Houlihan Lokey Advises HEPACO

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce the sale of HEPACO, a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors (Gryphon), to Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) in a transaction valued at $400 million. The transaction closed on March 22, 2024.

HEPACO is a leading environmental and emergency services company in the Eastern United States with coverage across 40+ regional locations. The company specializes in emergency response, remediation, and industrial and marine. HEPACO services a multitude of industries, including transportation, utilities, energy, environmental consultants, industrial facilities, terminals, and environmental service companies.

Gryphon Investors is a leading middle-market private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively advantaged companies in the business services, consumer, healthcare, industrial growth, and software sectors. With approximately $9 billion of assets under management, Gryphon prioritizes investments in which it can form strong partnerships with founders, owners, and executives to accelerate the building of leading companies and generate enduring value through its integrated deal and operations business model. Gryphon's highly differentiated model integrates its well-proven Operations Resources Group, which is led by full-time Gryphon senior operating executives with general management, human capital acquisition and development, treasury, finance, and accounting expertises. Gryphon's three core investment strategies include its Flagship, Heritage, and Junior Capital strategies, each with dedicated funds of capital. The Flagship and Heritage strategies target equity investments of $50 million to $350 million per portfolio company. The Junior Capital strategy targets investments in junior securities of credit facilities, arranged by leading middle-market lenders, in both Gryphon-controlled companies as well as in other private-equity-backed companies operating in Gryphon's targeted investment sectors.

Clean Harbors is North America’s leading provider of environmental and industrial services. The company serves a diverse customer base, including a majority of Fortune 500 companies. Its customer base spans a number of industries, including chemical, manufacturing, and refining, as well as numerous government agencies. These customers rely on Clean Harbors to deliver a broad range of services such as end-to-end hazardous waste management, emergency spill response, industrial cleaning and maintenance, and recycling services. Through its Safety-Kleen subsidiary, Clean Harbors also is North America’s largest re-refiner and recycler of used oil and a leading provider of parts washers and environmental services to commercial, industrial, and automotive customers. Founded in 1980 and based in Massachusetts, Clean Harbors operates in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and India.

Houlihan Lokey served as a financial advisor to HEPACO and assisted in marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on behalf of the company. This transaction highlights Houlihan Lokey's preeminent position and continued success advising clients in the environmental services sector, having successfully advised on 17 closed transactions since the beginning of 2023.