Publicly-traded Evoqua Water Technologies has acquired ProAct Services from Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company (HKW) for $132 million. ProAct Services was acquired by HKW in October 2014.
ProAct provides air and water treatment services including on-site water treatment, industrial degassing and vapor control, environmental remediation, suspended solids removal, metal treatment, and carbon servicing. The company, led by CEO Gerard Smiddy, was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Ludington, MI with facilities in California, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Virginia and Texas (www.proact-usa.com).
With this transaction now closed, ProAct Services has become a separate division within Evoqua’s Industrial Segment and will continue to be based in Ludington.
ProAct was acquired by HKW in October 2014. During the term of ownership, the company completed four add-on acquisitions, expanded its geographic reach and increased its service offerings. The four add-on acquisitions were the August 2017 buy of Kingwood, TX-based ThermTech, a maker of thermal and catalytic oxidizers; the February 2017 buy of the internal combustion engine degassing equipment of Groundwater & Environmental Services; the April 2016 buy of the Long Beach, CA division of FSI Field Specialties, a provider of degassing products and services; and the December 2015 buy of Carbonair, a Minneapolis-based provider of water treatment equipment and systems.
For the twelve months ended, March 31, 2018, ProAct had revenues of $54 million and adjusted EBITDA of $12 million. With a purchase price of $132 million, this equates to a valuation multiple of 11x adjusted EBITDA.
Evoqua (NYSE: AQUA) is a provider of water and wastewater treatment products, systems and services to industrial and municipal customers. Evoqua operates 160 locations in eight countries and has more than 38,000 customers worldwide. The company was founded as US Filter in 1990 and was acquired by Siemens in 2004 and renamed Siemens Water Technologies. Private equity firm AEA Investors acquired the business from Siemens in January 2014 and renamed the company Evoqua Water Technologies. In November 2017, AEA took the company public. Evoqua is headquartered in Pittsburgh (www.evoqua.com).
Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company invests in companies with revenues between $20 million and $200 million and EBITDAs between $2 million and $20 million. Since 1982, HKW has completed 57 platform management buyouts of small middle-market companies throughout North America as well as 62 add-on acquisitions. The firm was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Indianapolis with an additional office in New York (www.hkwinc.com).
Raymond James & Associates (www.raymondjames.com) was the financial advisor to ProAct.
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | July 30, 2018
