GFL Environmental
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| Industry | Waste management |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | North America |
Key people | Patrick Dovigi, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer |
GFL Environmental Inc. (also known as Green For Life or GFL) is an environmental services company with headquarters in Toronto, Canada. GFL operates in all provinces in Canada, except Prince Edward Island, and currently employs more than 3,200 employees. As of 2016, the approximate enterprise value of GFL is $2.4 billion [1]. The company has been called “one of the fastest-growing waste management companies in the country” [2] and provides a broad range of environmental services to municipal, residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
Company history
GFL Environmental Inc. was founded in 2007 by Canadian entrepreneur and businessman Patrick Dovigi, who had previous experience in the environmental services industry and wanted to establish a company that could unlock the value in smaller waste companies in Canada [2].
Growth
GFL was originally established from the merger of several Ontario environmental services firms, including Direct Line Environmental, National Waste Services and Enviro West [3] [4].
The same year that GFL was founded, the company attracted the investment interest of Canaccord Genuity Corp. [2] Three years later, in 2010, Roark Capital Group, an Atlanta private equity firm, made a $105 million investment in GFL [4] [5].
Helped by capital injections like these, GFL began to acquire environmental solution firms around Canada. In 2011, GFL acquired Turtle Island Recycling, a recycling company operating in Toronto [6].
In 2014, GFL acquired the waste collection business of Contrans Group Inc., giving GFL a larger solid waste management presence in Edmonton and Slave Lake, Alberta [7].
Also in 2014, GFL purchased the business operated by Waste Management in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador. [8]
A reorganization of GFL's share capital was completed in late 2014. The reorganization saw Roark Capital Group, which had provided capital to GFL since 2010, selling its stake in the company. [2] The reorganization introduced a new investor for GFL, Highbridge Principal Strategies (HPS).
In February 2016, GFL completed the acquisition of Services Matrec Inc. (Matrec), the waste management division of Montreal-based TransForce [1]. The $800 million purchase represented GFL's largest acquisition in its company history and was supported by an equity investment of $458 million made by a fund managed by Macquarie Group and an additional investment provided by Highbridge Principal Strategies and other co-investors [1][9].
The Matrec acquisition also represented GFL's entrance into the Quebec and eastern Ontario markets and increased GFL's total valuation to roughly $2.4 billion [1].
Also in 2016, a new acquisition was announced with Canadian private equity firm, Novacap and Developpement EDB Inc., agreeing to sell Corporation de Developpement de Enviro-Viridis Inc., a Quebec-based environmental services firm, to GFL.
Residential solid waste operations
In 2011, GFL won a highly publicized, seven-year contract to collect residential garbage from approximately 165,000 homes in west Toronto, specifically in the residential neighborhoods between Yonge Street and the Humber River [4]. The contract was expected to save the city roughly $11 million per year or $78 million over its total term [4].
GFL’s award of the contract was particularly publicized because it represented one of Toronto’s first moves to privatize and outsource the city’s residential garbage collection.
GFL’s contract with the city of Toronto to collect residential waste west of Yonge Street began in August 2012 [4].
In January 2015, the Halifax council awarded GFL three new contracts to collect residential waste in Halifax for the next four years [10].
In 2016, the city of Windsor chose to keep their waste and recycling collection service outsourced and elected to retain GFL's services for the next seven years. [11]Windsor first contracted out its waste collection to GFL in 2010 after the city's workers went on a prolonged strike.
Soil remediation and excavation business
In 2011, GFL was awarded a contract by the city of Toronto to excavate the site of the Pan Am Aquatics Centre in Toronto that was opened for the Pan Am Games in July of 2015. In January 2016, GFL acquired Anchor Shoring Group [12] to expand its services offered through its soil remediation, excavation and infrastructure group to include anchoring, shoring, piling, drilling and caissons work.
References
- ^ a b c d "Private equity investors pour $458 mln into GFL's acquisition of Matrec". The PE Hub Network. February 4, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- ^ a b c d "Business is picking up at garbage upstart Green for Life". The Globe and Mail. February 3, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- ^ "Toronto's new garbage magnate stickhandles his way to the front". The Globe and Mail. October 26, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Garbage contract could save city $100M". The Toronto Star. December 27, 2012. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- ^ "Roark Capital Commits $105 Million to GFL Waste & Recycling". waste360.com. November 30, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- ^ "Green for Life Purchases Turtle Island Recycling". Recycling Today. December 20, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- ^ "Contrans Q3 profit shrinks to $8.1M; revenue grows to $153.3 million". Canadian Business. October 27, 2014. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- ^ "GFL Environmental to Buy Waste Management Canadian Assets". waste360.com. May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- ^ "BMO forms Fortified Trust and prepares to enter the world of secured real estate credit lines". The Financial Post. January 25, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
- ^ "Four companies pick up $60m in Halifax trash contracts". The Chronicle Herald. January 28, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- ^ "Windsor garbage to remain outsourced". CBC News. February 22, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- ^ "GFL to acquire Anchor Shoring Group". Canadian Manufacturing. January 18, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.