(Bloomberg) -- GFL Environmental Inc. expects to see good acquisition opportunities arise from the wreckage of the coronavirus pandemic over the next three to six months.
“We will never let a good crisis go to waste,” Patrick Dovigi, founder and chief executive officer of the Vaughan, Ontario-based waste hauler, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg. “We closed our first major acquisition in September 2008, which sort of reminds me of where we are sitting today.”
The company has more than C$1.3 billion ($920 million) to spend on potential opportunities as they come, Dovigi said. The trash hauler saw commercial volumes drop 10% to 15% in April while residential volumes rose almost 10%, he said.
Canada was hit a little harder than the U.S., as the northern country acted more quickly shutting down offices and stores, he said. Commercial and industrial revenue is down 15% in Canada and 5% in the U.S. for GFL through the first four months of the year.
“Since the third week of April, the decline has reversed into an incline,” he said.
GFL will generate as much as C$400 million ($283 million) in free cash flow this year, which is enough to continue financing the business, the CEO said.
GFL raised $1.425 billion in its IPO in March. Its shares were trading at $17.88 at 2:46 p.m. on Wednesday in New York, 5.9% below its offering price.
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