Sharps Compliance, a waste management company is to be taken private by Aurora Capital Partners. The PE firm offered $8.75 per share, which valued the company at $170 million.

[UPDATE 8-26 The deal is now compete]

The company handles medical, pharmaceutical and hazardous waste for small to mid-size companies such as pharmacies, dentist offices and nursing homes. The company went public in 2009 and has its head office is just south of NRG Stadium.

It grew rapidly during the pandemic, but revenues has since flattened out. Interestingly, the company has changed both its CEO and CFO this year. Patrick Malloy was appointed the new CEO in April 2022. He replaced David Tusa who had been the CEO since 2010.

In February 2022, Eric Bauer was appointed CFO, replacing Diana Diaz, who stayed with the company as Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining Sharps, Mr. Bauer was CFO at another Houston public company, Nuverra Environmental Solutions.

The acquisition came about after Andrew Wilson, a partner at Aurora, placed an unsolicited telephone call to Patrick Malloy, congratulating him on his appointment as the new CEO. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Malloy met a week later, at which time Mr. Wilson expressed a high level preliminary interest in acquiring the company. (Aurora already owns Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services).

Sharps had retained Raymond James in August 2021 to assist the company in seeking acquisitions and they were able to pivot quickly to negotiate with Aurora and assess the merits of the offer.

The offer price of $8.75 represents a premium of 207% over the $2.85 per share price as of July 11, the last day before the announcement of the merger. This time last year, the stock was trading between $9 and $10 per share.

SEC filing – Sharps Compliance – Aurora