Carousel Capital announced it has successfully exited its investment in HEPACO, LLC (“HEPACO” or “the Company”), a leading provider of critical environmental services on both an emergency response and planned basis in the Eastern United States. The Company was acquired by Gryphon Investors, a growth-focused middle market private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA. 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. Carousel Capital partnered with HEPACO founder Ron Horton Sr., Ron Horton Jr. and Richard Horton to recapitalize the Company in 2011 and supported the Company’s growth into a market leader.
“We are very pleased with our successful investment in HEPACO, having achieved the goal we set with management to grow HEPACO into the preeminent environmental services provider in the Eastern United States”, said Charles Grigg, a Managing Partner of Carousel Capital. “We are grateful for management’s leadership during our partnership and wish them continued success with their new partner.”
“We are incredibly thankful for our partnership with Carousel Capital over the past five years,” said Ron Horton Sr., Founder of HEPACO. “Our partnership facilitated a transfer of ownership and management to the next generation of leaders at HEPACO.”
CEO Ron Horton Jr. added “Carousel has been a great financial partner, providing strategic and financial guidance and helping us prioritize growth initiatives to maximize the long-term value of our business.” “Our management team sincerely appreciates their culture of partnership, which fostered a great working relationship and ultimately a successful outcome for us all,” he said.
Piper Jaffray acted as financial advisor and K&L Gates acted as legal advisor to HEPACO and Carousel Capital on the transaction.
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.
Carousel Capital is a private investment firm that invests in companies located in the Southeastern United States. Carousel’s investor base includes institutional investors and an elite group of more than 100 current and former CEOs with significant operating experience. Since its inception, Carousel has invested in 36 companies primarily in three targeted growth sectors: business services; consumer services; and healthcare services.
