Blue Sage Exits Cobalt Environmental Solutions

Blue Sage Capital announced today that it closed on the sale of Cobalt Environmental Solutions (“Cobalt”) to Bison, an Oklahoma-based water infrastructure, logistics and solutions provider. Operating in the SCOOP and Merge plays of Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin, Cobalt is a leading operator of oilfield wastewater disposal and hydrocarbon extraction facilities in the region. Blue Sage created Cobalt as an oilfield waste platform in 2014 and made its initial investment to finance an acquisition in April 2014. Over the next five years, Blue Sage assisted Cobalt with the subsequent development of five additional greenfield facilities and partnered with management to establish long-term commercial relationships with key producers in the region. During the period in which Blue Sage owned Cobalt, revenue grew by approximately 3x.

Blue Sage Managing Member, Peter Huff, explained, “Given our extensive experience in oilfield and environmental services, our Blue Sage deal team was able to create what we believe is a successful company from scratch during the last five years by leveraging our prior experience as well as the support of Cobalt’s Chairman John Barnidge. The Cobalt investment represents the third time that we have successfully partnered with John. We believe the company’s growth has been exceptional, and we are excited to follow the next stage of Cobalt’s evolution under Bison’s leadership.”

Blue Sage Partner, Jonathan Pearce, remarked, “We were delighted to partner with CEO Patrick Brandt, COO Jonathan Hood and the rest of the Cobalt team to build a high-quality oilfield waste disposal operator in Oklahoma. From the initial acquisition of a single facility, our team was able to build one of the leading saltwater disposal businesses in the region, providing reliable, high-capacity service to the largest E&P players.”

Cobalt and Blue Sage were represented in the transaction by the law firm of Queen Saenz + Schutz PLLC.

About Blue Sage

Blue Sage Capital is an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm that has invested in profitable, growing, lower middle-market companies since 2002. Blue Sage has over $300 million of assets under management and partners with founders, families and management teams as the first round of institutional capital for businesses that enjoy leadership positions in niche manufacturing, environmental solutions or specialty services industries. Blue Sage typically invests $20 million to $40 million in control buyout investments and recapitalizations of companies with $20 million to $125 million of revenue.

For questions or inquiries, please contact Peter Huff at 512-536-1900 or Peter.Huff@bluesage.com.