SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, today announced that it has made a majority investment in Wind River Environmental, the leading provider of inspection, service, installation, repair, and maintenance of non-hazardous liquid environmental waste solutions in the United States. CEO John O’Connell and other members of Wind River’s management team have retained a significant ownership position in the Company and will continue to lead Wind River after the closing of the transaction. Former Republic Services COO and Gryphon executive advisor Kevin Walbridge will become Chairman of Wind River as part of Gryphon’s investment. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Wind River provides non-discretionary and regulatory-driven non-hazardous waste removal and treatment services to a wide range of commercial, residential, and municipal customers across the Eastern U.S. With more than 25 locations, Wind River serves a diversified blue-chip customer base including national food and retail establishments such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Whole Foods.
Wind River CEO John O’Connell stated, “We are excited to partner with Gryphon as we continue to grow the Company through acquisitions and national and local account sales efforts. We believe that Gryphon brings significant resources and expertise to support these efforts.”
Alex Earls, a Partner at Gryphon and Head of its Business Services Group, said, “This investment is a result of Gryphon’s longstanding proactive focus on the environmental services space and is a strong match with the past experience of Gryphon’s deal and operations professionals. We have enormous respect for John O’Connell and other members of management and are excited to partner with them to support the Company’s continued growth both organically and through acquisitions.”
Phil Petrocelli, a Gryphon Partner and member of its Operating Resources Group, added, “The Company has an impressive history of growth including completing more than 60 acquisitions. We are highly enthusiastic about providing capital and expertise to Wind River’s management team as they continue to build this market-leading platform through the execution of organic initiatives and add-on acquisitions.”
Gryphon’s past and current investments in the environmental services sector include Trinity Consultants, a leading environmental consulting firm which specializes in providing air quality compliance, toxicology, industrial hygiene and other environmental services, and HEPACO, a leading provider of emergency response, environmental remediation and other environmental services.
Kirkland & Ellis acted as the legal advisor to Gryphon and Finn Dixon & Herling was the legal advisor to Wind River. Stifel Nicolaus acted as financial advisor to Gryphon and William Blair & Company acted as the financial advisor to Wind River.
About Wind River
Headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Wind River Environmental and its affiliated companies inspect, service, repair and install a broad array of non-hazardous liquid waste systems, including septic tanks, grease traps, pumping and industrial waste systems. The company offers a full array of services to residential, commercial and municipal systems. In 2016, the company serviced 25,000 commercial and 52,000 residential sites. Operating from Maine to Florida, Wind River has over 500 team members who are graduates of Wind River University including over 350 highly trained technicians. For more information, please visit www.wrenvironmental.com.
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 five consecutive years, Gryphon has been ranked in Preqin’s prestigious quarterly private equity report as one of North America’s top-decile firms based on consistency of strong investment returns. With over $2.5 billion of cumulative equity commitments, the firm has an extensive track record of leading equity investments of approximately $50 million to $150 million per portfolio company with sales ranging from approximately $50 million to over $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.
