DLJ sees 3.1x return on waste materials deal

DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, the private equity arm of global investment bank Credit Suisse, has sold Wastequip, a waste materials processing company, to Odyssey Investment Partners for $616 million (€475 million).

DLJ bought Wastequip in May of 2005 for an undisclosed amount. That investment was made from its $2.1 billion fourth fund, DLJ Merchant Banking partners IV.

The firm made a more than three times its initial investment and an internal rate of return of about 150 percent in the exit, Edward Johnson, a DLJ managing director who led the Wastequip investment, said in a statement.

In the 18 months that DLJ owned the company, Wastequip established an emerging market sourcing program and opened a greenfield facility in Northern Virginia, the statement said.

“Our efforts increased company revenues by 56 percent,” Robert Rasmussen, the Wastequip’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.

Wastequip makes waste handling and recycling containers like compactors and trailers. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, it has multiple manufacturing centers across North America.

DLJ and Odyssey engaged in another waste-related transaction last year. DLJ agreed to buy United Site Services from Odyssey for an undisclosed amount in May. Based in Westborough, Massachusetts, United Site Services provides portable sanitation services to clients in the construction, government and special events industries.

This deal follows a similar deal by The Carlyle Group. Carlyle agreed to buy Synagro Technologies, a US-based biosolids and organic residuals recycler, for about $772 million in January. That transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.