Clean Harbors to Buy Safety-Kleen for $1.25 Billion

Clean Harbors Inc. (CLH), a provider of hazardous-water disposal, agreed to acquire Safety-Kleen Inc. for $1.25 billion to expand in used-oil recycling and re- refining.

The cash transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, Norwell, Massachusetts-based Clean Harbors said today in a statement. The company said it has a financing commitment from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and is considering several other options that may include a combination of existing cash, debt and equity.

Safety-Kleen filed in August for a $400 million initial public offering underwritten by banks led by Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley. The Richardson, Texas-based company said at the time it was North America’s largest re-refiner of used oil, a business that accounted for about 44 percent of its annual revenues.

Clean Harbors received legal advice on the transaction from Davis, Malm & D’Agostine. Credit Suisse served as lead financial adviser to Safety-Kleen, which was also advised by Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom provided Safety-Kleen with legal advice.

(The companies scheduled a conference call at 9 a.m. New York time to discuss the transaction, which can be accessed at +1-201-689-8881 or +1-877-709-8155.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Frank in Toronto at sfrank9@bloomberg.net; Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net; Steven Frank at sfrank9@bloomberg.net