Major waste companies spent $1.45B on Q3 M&A, up from modest Q2
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Most of North America’s publicly traded waste companies started slow with acquisition activity in 2024, but notable deals that closed over the summer resulted in more significant spending totals for the third quarter.
Total Q3 spending reached an estimated $1.45 billion. The totals include spending reported by WM, Republic Services, Waste Connections, GFL Environmental and Casella Waste Systems.
Below is a recap of recent M&A activity for the industry’s five largest public companies, along with executives’ insights into possible future deals.
|
| Q3 Acquisition Spend | Year-to-date Spend |
|---|---|---|
| WM | $773M | |
| Republic Services | $36.3M | |
| Waste Connections | $573.2M | |
| GFL Environmental* | $440.1M | |
| Casella Waste Systems | $259.9M |
Spending totals are net of cash acquired, with some variation in methodology among companies.
*GFL figures converted from Canadian to U.S. dollars for comparison purposes, based on Nov. 11 exchange rate.
Recaps and outlooks
WM
WM’s recent acquisitions have mainly been of solid waste and recycling businesses, including a focus on deals in New York, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona. Overall, WM has invested $790 million in acquisitions so far in 2024 that contributed $108 million of revenue growth this year, said CEO Jim Fish during a recent earnings call.
Total M&A spending could reach the $1 billion mark by the end of the year or early into 2025, executives said. The company is planning “to get the next handful of deals closed here in the next few months,” added John Morris, WM’s chief operating officer.
WM’s Q3 acquisitions did not include the $7.2 billion acquisition of Stericycle, which closed Nov. 4.
Republic Services
Executives lowered expectations for Republic’s M&A spend for the year. CEO Jon Vander Ark said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the company is now tracking toward more than $200 million total for the year as opposed to its initial $500 million estimate. He said that the company’s M&A pipeline ebbs and flows, and that the first half of the year was slow.
Nevertheless, Vander Ark said the company would “stay disciplined” on its acquisition strategy, noting: “For every eight opportunities we look at, eventually we close one of those … Sometimes those things break quickly and sometimes they take a little longer.”