Roark Capital Portfolio Company Quala Acquires Gator Environmental & Rentals, Inc.

November 23, 2015 | By Business Wire News

TAMPA, Fla.

An affiliate of QualaWash Holdings, LLC (“Quala” or “the Company”), a portfolio company of Roark Capital and North America’s leader in bulk transportation container cleaning, announced today the acquisition of Gator Environmental & Rentals, Inc. (“Gator”). Based in Louisiana, Gator is a leading provider of waste water collection, transportation and disposal services in the Gulf Coast region. Gator represents the 9th acquisition by Quala since 2012, expanding the Company’s footprint to more than 60 locations in the U.S.

“The purchase of Gator represents a significant move forward in our strategy to expand Quala’s service lines and leverage our national network of tank wash and waste water disposal facilities,” said Mike Bauer, Chief Executive Officer of Quala. “We are excited about the addition of Gator to the Quala brand and believe our combined waste water expertise and capabilities provides us with additional avenues for continued organic and acquisition growth.”

Gator’s waste water services are complementary to Quala’s core operations and will accelerate the Company’s continued expansion of non-hazardous waste water disposal services across its network of facilities. Gator serves a diverse customer base across a range of end markets, including chemicals, midstream oil and gas, and downstream oil and gas. Gator will continue to operate under its own brands, but will now leverage in-house Quala waste water treatment capabilities in both existing and new markets.

Gator’s management team will remain in place and will continue to be run by its Vice President of Operations and co-founder, Jeff Burnett. Burnett has served as head of Gator for over 10 years and will bring his industry knowledge and relationships to the Quala platform. “The Gator team is excited to join Quala and believes Quala’s facilities and broad capabilities provide opportunities to expand customer relationships and attract new customers in our current markets as well as new geographies,” said Burnett.

About Quala

Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, Quala is North America’s largest independent provider of tank trailer cleaning, ISO container depot services and IBC cleaning, testing and reconditioning services. Quala’s national network of tank wash and waste water treatment facilities is comprised of over 60 locations in the U.S. and Canada providing the widest breadth of tank trailer, intermediate bulk container and ISO container cleaning and maintenance capabilities in the industry. For more information, visit www.quala.us.com.

About Gator Environmental

Gator provides waste water collection, transportation and disposal services along with industrial and container cleaning and equipment rental throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. Based in Port Allen, LA, Gator has provided high-quality services with a focus on safety and regulatory compliance to a diverse set of customers for over 10 years. For more information visit www.gatorenv.com.

About Roark Capital Group

Roark Capital Group is an Atlanta-based private equity firm that specializes in franchise, brand management, environmental services and marketing services companies with attractive growth prospects. Roark focuses on middle-market investment opportunities through family-owned business transfers, management and corporate buyouts, recapitalizations, going-private transactions and corporate divestitures. The firm has raised over $6 billion of equity capital since inception and Gator represents Roark’s 60^th transaction in the environmental services sector. For more information please visit www.roarkcapital.com.