Waste Management to acquire Deffenbaugh Disposal

Waste Management Inc., headquartered in Houston, and the leveraged-buyout firm aPriori Capital Partners LP, Concord, Massachusetts, have announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which a subsidiary of Waste Management will acquire Deffenbaugh Disposal Inc., Kansas City, Kansas.   
“This proposed acquisition aligns perfectly with our goal of driving shareholder value by maximizing our focus on our core business,” says David Steiner, president and CEO of Waste Management. “It affords us the opportunity to expand our service offerings to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Arkansas and enter an attractive market—Kansas City—where we currently have very limited presence. It also allows us to replace a portion of the earnings and cash flow from our pending divestiture of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. at an attractive price while preserving our strong balance sheet.”

Steiner adds, “Deffenbaugh’s management team runs a terrific business, and the company’s employees operate it superbly. I am confident that the addition of Deffenbaugh to our operations will create years of shareholder value, additional benefits for customers in the region and opportunities for the employees of both companies to learn and grow from each other’s operational, customer service and community involvement expertise.”

Jim Donahue, Deffenbaugh president and CEO, says, “This is an exciting day for Deffenbaugh. Today’s announcement is a testament to our strong business operation, deep community engagement and the hard work of our employees. I speak for all of us at Deffenbaugh when I say we are excited to be joining forces with Waste Management, the largest and most respected name in the industry.”

Deffenbaugh provides services in Omaha, Nebraska; St. Joseph, Missouri; Kansas City and Topeka, Kansas; and northwest Arkansas. Additionally, the company operates one municipal solid waste landfill, one construction and demolition landfill, two material recovery facilities and seven transfer stations. In 2013, Deffenbaugh collected more than 1.7 million tons of waste and recyclables, with the majority processed at its recycling facilities or disposed of at its landfills.