Safety-Kleen Corporation

Safety-Kleen provided recycling, material and fluid management services for over 400,000 customers, and had revenues of $1.0 billion. After agreeing to a "friendly", $1.8 billion merger transaction with Philip Environmental in late 1997, Safety-Kleen received a series of "unfriendly" offers from Laidlaw Environmental – ultimately at the $2.0 billion level. As a result of a well-publicized takeover battle, the Philip deal failed, and Safety-Kleen was left with a series of difficult choices.

Due to Safety-Kleen's dissatisfaction with its existing advisors, Safety-Kleen retained Gordian Group to advise the company on alternatives and on negotiating strategies with Laidlaw. Gordian Group, in previous years, had been engaged by Safety-Kleen to advise it with respect to various shareholder value-enhancement services. Following Gordian's retention, Safety-Kleen successfully obtained an increase in transaction price from Laidlaw, and the Safety-Kleen Board consented to the transaction.