• Books to be sent in the next few weeks
• Corporate Fuel advising
• Roughly 10 informal offers fielded

CMS Logistics, a provider of construction site facilities and services, compactor rentals, and commercial waste services, will launch a sale process within the next few weeks, said founder/CEO and sole owner Bill Lowther.

The West Chester, Pennsylvania-based company, with just over USD 20m in annual revenue and adjusted EBITDA of around USD 5m, has fielded around six to 10 offers—most of them unsolicited—from potential bidders, he added. It anticipates submitting books to these parties in January or February, he said.

Corporate Fuel Advisors is advising CMS on the process, the CEO and Corporate Fuel managing director Rob Lubin both said.

CMS received its first serious potential sale offer in summer 2023. Guardian Capital Partners offered to buy CMS and team up to potentially acquire Compactor Rentals of America, which was then in an active sale process, Lowther said. Ultimately, Guardian lost out to PE firm Kinderhook Industries, which announced its purchase of Compactor in February for undisclosed terms.

By that point, “our name was out there” as a potential target, he said. CMS received calls from firms such as Kinderhook, Warren Equity Partners (which has owned Meridian Waste since 2018), and NMS Capital (which bought LDR Site Services in 2022), according to Lowther.

Not long after, CMS hired Corporate Fuel, which advised the company to “test the market” and pitch itself to a series of strategic and financial buyers, despite Guardian’s existing offer, he added. Warren, NMS, and Kinderhook are all receiving books for the process, said Lowther and Lubin.

H.I.G. Capital, which purchased Arc Waste Compactors last year, is also getting a book, both added.

Lowther said he anticipates first-round bids will come in by March.

Given its asset-light model and strong compactor/equipment rental business, CMS hopes to fetch an EBITDA multiple at the higher end of the 7x-10x range, Lowther and Lubin said.

Other recent large deals in the space include Macquarie Asset Management’s majority investment in Coastal Waste & Recycling in 2023 and TPG’s combination of Keter Environmental and Waste Harmonics, also in 2023, Lowther said by way of example.

In the event of a deal, Lowther added that he could opt to roll over equity to grow the new enterprise.

CMS could also sell the compactor and baler rental business separately from its more asset-light waste services and site facility/maintenance units, to two different buyers, since there is appetite in both markets, he and Lubin said.

CMS has hired Corporate Fuel in the past. In 2021, the company used the firm to help with fundraising for a potential acquisition, Lowther recalled. The deal did not pan out, but Lowther said he learned from the experience about how sale processes worked.

He mentioned that the company is unique for allowing construction groups to access a centralized system of waste management and facility rental services, as opposed to using a wide variety of regional vendors.

CMS provides dumpsters, portable toilets, storage containers, fencing solutions, barricades, generators, polluted water containment systems, and mobile offices to construction sites. It operates 78 locations, according to its website.

The company uses Polsinelli Law Firm as well as accountant Stephano Slack, said Lowther.

Guardian, Warren, NMS, Kinderhook, and HIG did not return requests for comment.