AIMS Companies (Sterling Investment Partners) → Clean Harbors / Industrial-Services Strategics

Match score: 4.55 (Cycle 2, 2026-05-03). Reachability upgraded from "guessed pattern" to "verified pattern" after Cycle 1 first.last bounces resolved via SEC-filing direct evidence + QuickEmailVerification. Original Cycle 1 score: 4.45.

Seller

• Company: AIMS Companies
• HQ: Scottsdale, AZ
• Sector: Infrastructure inspection / industrial cleaning / specialty contractor
• Sub-sector: Municipal & utility pipeline inspection and cleaning; vacuum & hydroblast cleaning for plant maintenance; pipe rehabilitation
• Headcount: 600+ employees, 18 facilities (per AIMS website)
• Founder & CEO: Chris Mihaletos. Phoenix Business Journal 2021 ACE CEO of the Year; partnered with Sterling at the 2020 recap.
• End markets: municipal, utility, industrial, energy
• Implied size band: est. ~$200–350M revenue (600 EE × ~$400–500K/EE typical for industrial-services), EBITDA ~$30–60M; enterprise value at exit plausibly $400–800M at 10–14x EBITDA strategic-buyer multiples (HydroChemPSC sold at $1.25B to CLH on a much larger scale).

Holding PE firm

• Firm: Sterling Investment Partners (Westport, CT)
• Acquired: April 2020 → 6.0-year hold as of May 2026
• Fund: Sterling Investment Partners III (vintage ~2017–2018 by deal pacing; Fund IV closed Jan 2023 above target)
• Hold-period band: squarely in the 4–7 yr exit sweet spot; Fund III LPs pressing for DPI

Fund-level signals supporting near-term exit

1. Fund V close (Nov 2025, $1.6B). Sterling is no longer fee-extracting from Fund III; the firm has fresh dry powder and the LP base is rotating attention to the new vehicle.
2. XKIG single-asset continuation vehicle (Oct 2025, ~$500M+, co-led by HarbourVest, StepStone, ICONIQ). Sterling demonstrated willingness to recycle Fund III/IV assets via CVs to deliver liquidity. Pattern repeatable on AIMS.
3. Soldano quoted on "distribution and business services" exit strategy in the Fund IV close release. AIMS sits in the business-services bucket Soldano speaks for.

Buyer shortlist

| Rank | Buyer | Type | Why fit | |-----:|-------|------|---------| | 1 | Clean Harbors (NYSE: CLH) | Strategic | Acquired HydroChemPSC for $1.25B from Littlejohn — direct precedent. Q4 2025 earnings: "record cash on M&A". EVP Corp Dev Brian Weber led 85+ deals. | | 2 | Brand Industrial Services / HEICO | Strategic / Holdco | Industrial services platform, active inspection/maintenance acquirer. | | 3 | GFL Environmental (NYSE: GFL) | Strategic | Active North American environmental / industrial roll-up. | | 4 | Apollo (Industrial Services platform) | Upmarket PE | Vintage 2018+ flagship; check size aligned to $400–800M EV. | | 5 | KKR (Heritage Environmental Services platform) | Upmarket PE | Sponsor-to-sponsor with platform-integration thesis. |

Key comparable transaction

Clean Harbors → HydroChemPSC ("HPC"), $1.25B, 2024 (from Littlejohn & Co)

• Industrial cleaning, specialty maintenance, utilities services. Same code as AIMS.
• Same seller archetype (LMM PE).
• Confirms Clean Harbors is willing to write a 9-figure check for a clean roll-up of this profile.

Recipients

| Recipient | Firm | Role | Email | Pattern | Cycle 1 status | Cycle 2 status | |-----------|------|------|-------|---------|----------------|----------------| | James W. Soldano | Sterling Investment Partners | Managing Partner | soldano@sterlinglp.com | {last} | james.soldano@ bounced | Re-sent on soldano@ (verified valid, MX outlook.com) | | Brian P. Weber | Clean Harbors | EVP, Corporate Planning & Development | weberb@cleanharbors.com | {last}{f} | brian.weber@ bounced | Re-sent on weberb@ (verified valid, MX pphosted.com; pattern confirmed via 2021 SEC EDGAR filing) |

Pattern evidence (Cycle 2 resolution)

• sterlinglp.com → {last}: Direct SEC NRC filings list soldano@sterlinglp.com, michaeli@sterlinglp.com, koziel@sterlinglp.com. Sterling's own Fund IV close press release lists santoro@, soldano@, macey@, barr@. Outlook 365 MX. 10 harvested matches on {last} pattern; 0 on {first}.{last}.
• cleanharbors.com → {last}{f}: 2021 SEC EDGAR exhibit (0001580695-21-000177.html) lists weberb@cleanharbors.com directly. IR documents list mcdonaldm@cleanharbors.com. Proofpoint MX. Pattern reads as last + first-initial.

Cycle log

• Cycle 1 (2026-05-02): Touch 1 sent to james.soldano@sterlinglp.com and brian.weber@cleanharbors.com on guessed {first}.{last} pattern. Both bounced at the recipient mailservers. The thesis itself stood up; only the email pattern was wrong.
• Cycle 2 (2026-05-03): Email-guesser re-run with direct-fetch + SERP. SEC-filing evidence resolved both patterns. QuickEmailVerification confirmed both safe_to_send: true, accept_all: false. Touch 1 re-sent on the resolved patterns. Bounce-retry budget for both recipients: attempt 2 of 3.