Gryphon-backed HEPACO to Acquire Emergency Response & Training Solutions

11/2/17

HEPACO, LLC, a leading provider of environmental and emergency response services across 28 offices in the eastern United States, announced today that it has acquired Emergency Response & Training Solutions. Based in Jacksonville, FL, ERTS is a leading provider of emergency response services to Fortune 500 companies through a national network of third-party vendors. ERTS Founder and President Clay Richter and Executive Vice President Amanda Stevens will continue to lead ERTS after the closing of the acquisition and have made significant equity investments in HEPACO. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. HEPACO is majority-owned by San Francisco-based Gryphon Investors, a leading middle market private equity firm, which purchased the Company in August 2016.

HEPACO Chairman and Gryphon Operating Partner Phil Petrocelli said, “We are very excited to have completed the highly strategic acquisition of ERTS and to partner with Clay Richter and Amanda Stevens. We have been impressed by ERTS’ high service quality, blue chip customer base and the scalable platform it has built, and our intention is to continue to make investments to accelerate its growth.”

HEPACO CEO Mike Szomjassy added, “HEPACO and ERTS share a long history of providing high quality emergency response services to blue chip clients who have come to rely on them to meet their needs. This acquisition benefits customers of both companies as it enables HEPACO to provide emergency response and other environmental services on a national basis while also allowing ERTS’ Fortune 500 customers access to HEPACO’s self-perform operations in the eastern U.S.”

Mr. Richter stated, “We are very excited to partner with HEPACO and believe that this combination provides significant benefits to our customers, employees and third-party vendors.” Ms. Stevens added, “This combination is highly strategic for ERTS and allows us to provide enhanced levels of service to existing and new clients throughout a broad range of industries and geographies, while also continuing to invest in the highly successful ALERT platform and to introduce new services to our customers.”

Maloney + Novotny acted as financial advisor to ERTS. McDonald Hopkins LLC acted as legal advisor to ERTS, while Moore & Van Allen PLLC provided legal advice 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 three-hour or less response time within its footprint. The Company provides services on both an emergency response and planned basis and completed more than 7,500 projects in 2016.

About ERTS

Based in Jacksonville, FL, ERTS (https://ertsonline.com/) is the one of the largest providers of emergency response services on a national basis through a managed network of third-party vendors. ERTS also provides training and waste management services to a variety of end-markets, including transportation, logistics, waste management and insurance. The Company was founded in 2001 by Clay Richter. Richter was previously Manager, Environmental & Emergency Response at Roadway Express, Inc., one of the leading freight shipping companies in the U.S. prior to its sale to YRC Worldwide Inc.

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 20 consecutive quarters, Gryphon has been ranked in Preqin’s prestigious quarterly PE report as one of North America’s top-decile buyout firms based on consistency of strong investment returns. Managing over $2.6 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997, the firm has an extensive track record of leading equity investments of $50 million to $200 million per portfolio company with sales ranging from approximately $100 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. Gryphon closed its fourth private equity buyout fund, Gryphon IV, in November 2016 at $1.1 billion, and raised a $100 million captive mezzanine fund, Gryphon Mezzanine Partners, L.P., in August 2017.

Recent Deals

Interested in advertising your deals? Contact Edwin Warfield.