Stericycle To Buy Shred-it Int'l For $2.3 Bln

(RTTNews) - Medical waste management company Stericycle, Inc. (SRCL) said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy privately-held Shred-it International, a secure information destruction services provider, for $2.3 billion in cash.

Shred-it provides secure information destruction services to over 400,000 customer locations in 15 countries. Shred-it's pro forma revenue for the 12-month period ending March 2015 was $726 million.

The acquisition will strengthen Stericycle's growth opportunities by providing an additional business-to-business compliance solution, leveraging Stericycle's existing core capabilities, and expanding the company's global reach.

The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Cash EPS by at least 10% in 2016 and in the mid-to-high teens in 2018.

Stericycle has obtained committed financing for the deal from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman, Sachs & Co. The company expects to finance the acquisition of Shred-it through a combination of cash, debt and $700 million in equity or an equity-linked offering.

The deal, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015. Following the acquisition, the Shred-it management team will join Stericycle.

Stericycle shares are currently losing 0.07% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $134.56, down 60 cents.