Waste Management buys rival for $3B in company's largest-ever deal

April 15 (UPI) -- Waste Management agreed Monday to acquire competitor Advanced Disposal Services in a deal worth nearly $5 billion, growing the company's footprint by 3 million customers in the eastern half of the United States.

Florida-based Advanced Disposal Services has dozens of landfills in 16 states and the Bahamas. Houston-based WM owns or operates nearly 250 landfills.

WM will pay $3 billion for the company and assume nearly $2 billion in its debt.

"The acquisition of Advanced Disposal [adds] complementary assets and operations as well as a team with a shared focus on safety, outstanding service and operational excellence," Waste Management CEO and President Jim Fish said in a statement Monday. "With this acquisition, we will grow our asset footprint to serve more customers and communities."

The transaction was unanimously approved by the companies' boards of directors and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

The deal merges the waste industry's No. 1 and No. 4 companies and is the sector's largest merger in more than a decade. It's WM's largest acquisition in history.