GFL Environmental acquires refining assets from Vertex

Vertex, an energy transition company based in Houston, has sold its Heartland used motor oil collections and refining business to GFL Environmental Inc., an environmental services company with headquarters in Vaughn, Ontario. The transaction closed Feb. 1.

Vertex has a focus on the production and distribution of conventional and alternative fuels. The company owns a refinery in Mobile, Alabama, with an operable refining capacity of 75,000 barrels per day and more than 3.2 million barrels of product storage—making it one of the largest processors of used motor oil (UMO) in the U.S.

Vertex has operations in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas; Marrero, Louisiana; and Columbus, Ohio. Vertex also owns a facility, Myrtle Grove, located on a 41-acre industrial complex along the Gulf Coast in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, with existing hydroprocessing and plant infrastructure assets, which include 9 million gallons of storage.

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Heartland is a vertically integrated specialty refiner and marketer of high-quality hydrocarbon products, specializing in used oil collection, refining and upcycling. Heartland operates across Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania and collects and aggregates an estimated 22 million gallons of UMO annually via self-collection and third-party vendors.

GFL is the fourth largest diversified environmental services company in North America, providing a comprehensive line of solid waste management, liquid waste management and soil remediation services through its platform of facilities throughout Canada and in more than half of the U.S. Across its organization, GFL has a workforce of more than 19,500 employees.

Houlihan Lokey, Los Angeles, California, served as the exclusive financial advisor to Vertex and assisted in marketing, structuring and negotiating the transaction on behalf of the company.