Re: Laidlaw Environmental's purchase of Safety-Kleen--the news release refers to "closing SK's headquarters" and "laying-off 600 people"--I can't imagine a dumber thing to say in a press release (except maybe "we have no idea where AMBIX will come up with $1.6 million"). A little digging turned up reports that SK is now in virtual chaos, with managers, coordinators, support staff, collectors, and god knows who else starting to look at how they can jump ship before they go down with it. Who's going to be concentrating on keeping SK from flying apart (or, more likely, collapsing into paralysis)? Massive consolidations are always difficult, especially when the take-over company is trying to swallow a larger one; add massive resentment, hostility, and changes, and the problem only gets worse. If the press release is evidence of the intelligence of management, it's possible they may not even succeed in chewing their way through the mess. In any case, I'd now estimate that they have a multi-year job on their hands with an uncertain outcome, so they're unlikely to be looking at another acquisition in the near future.
By the way, SK collects about 8% of the waste oil produced in this country, about twice the amount of the next largest collector, Ashland Oil (Jiffy Lube).
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