J.F. Lehman Builds Environmental Services Platform

J.F. Lehman & Company has acquired majority equity interests in two companies, Reclamation Technologies USA and Tradewater, and has combined them to form a new environmental services platform focused on the lifecycle management of industrial and refrigerant gases and the mitigation of uncontrolled methane emissions.

Reclamation Technologies (RTI) provides refrigerant recovery and reclamation services to industrial and commercial customers that manage heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration systems. Specific services include on-site gas recovery, separation of mixed refrigerants, cylinder exchange programs, and the sale of reclaimed and virgin refrigerants. The company is headquartered in Indianapolis.Tradewater provides collection, aggregation, and permanent destruction of high global-warming-potential refrigerant gases and the mitigation of emissions from orphaned and uncontrolled methane sources. The company sources gases globally and coordinates their safe destruction to prevent atmospheric release, enabling the generation of carbon offset credits sold into both compliance and voluntary markets. Chicago-based Tradewater was co-founded by Tim Brown and Gabriel Plotkin and is led by CEO Kirsten Dueck.

The combination of RTI and Tradewater as a single platform creates a company with capabilities in refrigerant recovery, reclamation, processing, and destruction, providing customers with closed-loop services across the lifecycle of regulated gases.

“We are thrilled to launch JFLCO’s newest platform by entering this growing and highly fragmented sector – the investments in RTI and Tradewater establish a market leader with unique capabilities, and represent a strong foundation for continued growth,” said Glenn Shor, managing partner of J.F. Lehman. “We’re excited to partner with Jeff and Katelyn to build upon the strong foundation that RTI and Tradewater have established.”

With the closing of the transaction, Jeff Laborsky has been named chief executive officer of the combined platform and Katelyn Imrie was appointed president. At Tradewater, Ms. Dueck continues as chief executive officer.

“We are excited to partner with J.F. Lehman and our talented teams at RTI and Tradewater to build a leading, differentiated platform in this attractive and growing market,” said Mr. Laborsky. “Together, we share a clear strategic vision and a strong alignment around disciplined growth, operational excellence, long-term value creation, and climate impact.”

“We are partnering with a proven, highly capable management team with demonstrated ability in establishing and scaling specialized environmental services platforms,” said Dave Thomas, a managing director at J.F. Lehman. “Together, we see a compelling opportunity to accelerate growth through disciplined M&A and organic investment, positioning the Company as the acquiror of choice in a highly fragmented market.”

J.F. Lehman is a middle-market private equity firm primarily focused on the maritime, defense, and aerospace sectors. The firm typically invests between $50 million and $350 million in companies with EBITDA ranging from $10 million to $75 million. Equity for the acquisitions of RTI and Tradewater was from J.F. Lehman’s sixth fund, JFL Equity Investors VI LP, which closed in December 2024 with $2.2 billion in capital, the largest in the firm’s history.

Founded in 1992 by Dr. John Lehman, who served as Secretary of the United States Navy for six years, J.F. Lehman is headquartered in New York City, with an additional office in Washington DC.

Brown Gibbons Lang was the financial advisor to RTI and Cypress Capital was the financial advisor to Tradewater.