Dive Brief:
- Berkshire Partners, a private equity firm, is acquiring a stake in Massachusetts-based Triumvirate Environmental, a provider of hazardous and non-hazardous environmental services, according to multiple industry sources.
- PE Hub reported in September that bidders had advanced to a second round. CTFN, a deal news and intelligence company, first reported Berkshire’s role soon after. This month, 9fin reported that the deal was still pending but nearing completion. Berkshire and Triumvirate did not respond to requests for comment.
- Triumvirate operates an estimated 50 locations across North America, including a range of transfer stations and treatment, storage and disposal facilities. The company has an estimated 2,000 employees and 500 power units.
Dive Insight:
This is the latest of many recent deals in the environmental services sector. The transaction has been an open secret for months, leaving some to wonder why it hadn’t been announced yet, but the deal’s timing is still murky.
Berkshire’s website listed Triumvirate as one of the portfolio companies under Managing Director Mike Ascione as recently as Jan. 27, when ESG Dive sister publication Waste Dive contacted the firm. Ascione’s page no longer lists Triumvirate as of Jan. 28.
Triumvirate was founded in 1988 by CEO John McQuillan. In a June 2024 interview, McQuillan estimated the business generated $500 million in annual revenue. An October story by the Boston Globe reported its estimated enterprise value was $1.8 billion, similar to the estimated value reported by 9fin this month.
The company’s expansion has been driven by an evolving regulatory environment, with a big focus on pharmaceutical and life science customers.
Triumvirate competes with companies such as Clean Harbors, Veolia North America and Stericycle. The company owns multiple transfer facilities and treatment, storage and disposal facilities, but it isn’t fully vertically integrated with landfills or incinerator assets like some of its larger competitors.
“We are a fully licensed contracting firm capable of managing a broad spec of waste, but we are also an environmental consulting firm,” McQuillan said in June, later adding that “we manage perhaps the broadest spec of special waste of any provider.”
The non-municipal solid waste side of the waste industry is seen by investors and analysts as ripe for further consolidation, as shown by many deals in recent years.
Some of the more notable recent examples include WM acquiring Stericycle, Republic Services acquiring US Ecology and others, Crystal Clean going private through a private equity sale, Heritage Environmental Services selling to EQT Infrastructure and EQT-backed Reworld selling a minority stake to GIC. Other pending deals include GFL Environmental’s upcoming sale of a majority stake in its environmental services business to Apollo and BC Partners.
Speaking in June, McQuillan said industry consolidation was an ongoing trend and noted that Triumvirate had acquired more than 20 companies in the past two decades itself. Some of the more recent purchases include Danox Environmental Services and Green Planet. He also noted that multiples had risen as more players entered the mix.
“Private equity found their way into this space maybe eight to 10 years ago. And that’s added to some of the competitive nature of the consolidation,” said McQuillan.
Triumvirate’s choice to sell a stake to a private equity firm presents an opportunity for it to continue growing the existing business, rather than selling to a competitor that would more likely integrate its assets under their brand.
Boston-based Berkshire Partners is less active in the environmental services space than some other firms, with at least one notable exception: The firm invested in fellow Massachusetts-based company Clean Harbors in the late 1980s amid a period of rapid growth.
Berkshire recently reported closing its 11th fund with an estimated $7.8 billion in capital commitments.
