Kinderhook acquires Cards Recycling

New York-based Kinderhook Industries LLC has acquired Cards Recycling LLC, a municipal, commercial and industrial solid waste collection company headquartered in Northwest Arkansas. Kinderhook describes the acquisition as a recapitalization. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

“The market dynamics of the Mid-South region are incredibly appealing,” says Sam Keenan, principal at Kinderhook. “Cards’ core geography is experiencing strong population growth driven by increased commercial and industrial production. We plan to hit the ground running and anticipate rapidly deploying capital ... to grow the team and invest in collection and post-collection infrastructure.”  

Headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, Cards is a regional solid waste collection company with more than 56,500 residential, commercial and industrial waste customers and a network of what Kinderhook calls "well-permitted post-collection facilities.”

Cards, originally known as Central Arkansas Recycling and Disposal Services, launched in 2017 to provide roll-off services for customers. It also operates a landfill in Little Rock and a construction and demolition materials recycling facility. 

The company now has operations extending into Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas and currently provides waste collection services to more than 30 municipalities through municipal contracts and more than 26,000 residential subscription, commercial and industrial waste customers. 

“I founded Cards with a simple mission: become the Mid-South solid waste market leader providing best-in-class customer service,” says Dan Christensen, founder and CEO of Cards Recycling. “We are very excited to team up with Kinderhook as a capital partner with their depth of resources and experience in the environmental services space. The team is committed and excited to continue to grow the business and expand Cards’ service offering to new markets.” 

Christensen launched his first waste company in 2014, called DC Trash, which operated within the Dekalb County, Illinois, marketplace. The company offered waste removal, recycling collection and dumpster rental and had more than 30,000 customers and roughly 35 employees before he made the decision to sell DC Trash to Lakeshore Recycling Systems, now LRS, in 2017. 

The Cards acquisition represents Kinderhook’s 89th environmental services transaction since its inception, according to the firm. Earlier in March, South Carolina-based Kinderhook portfolio company Capital Waste Services acquired Sandlands C&D Landfill in Gresham, South Carolina.

Financing for the Cards transaction was provided by Dallas-based Comerica Bank and Washington-based Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP served as legal counsel to Kinderhook. Cards was advised by Florida-based Skyway Capital Markets.  

Recycling Today Media Group has reached out to Kinderhook for further comment.