** Shares of Casella Waste Systems CSWT.O down 3.1% at $103.44 post-market after co launches stock offering to fund recently announced acquisition
** Rutland, Vermont-based co commences $400 mln stock offering
** It plans to use net proceeds to finance buy of Royal Carting and Welsh Sanitation, to repay debt and for general purposes
** Last week, CWST said pending Royal Carting acquisition includes two solid waste collection operations and two transfer stations in New York’s Middle and Lower Hudson Valley regions and western Connecticut
** CWST shares on Tues closed down 1.5% at $106.73, trimming YTD gain to 25%
** Co has 58.13 mln shares outstanding for $6.2 bln market cap and ~56.68 mln shares of public float, per LSEG
** Raymond James, J.P. Morgan and Stifel leading the stock offering
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))