Land Shark Shredding, the Bowling Green-based company that has provided document destruction and other services to local companies for 14 years, is under new ownership.

Kansas-based Underground Vaults and Storage Inc. announced Monday that it purchased Land Shark Shredding’s commercial business.

Founded by Don Gerard Jr. in 2007, Land Shark has also sold the portion of its business that deals with government contracts to Louisiana-based Dunlap Government Solutions.

“I saw an opportunity and felt like the time was right (to sell),” Gerard said. “UV&S bought the Land Shark name and trademark. They’re buying our trucks and keeping most of our employees.”

Mandy Stuckey, current vice president of operations for LSS, will serve as manager for this UV&S location.

Gerard said the company will continue to operate under the Land Shark name “for a few months” and then make the transition to UV&S, a privately held company that has 11 locations throughout the United States.

“Our clients aren’t going to notice much of anything,” Gerard said of the transition.

LSS provides National Association for Information Destruction-certified destruction services with its fleet of mobile shred trucks throughout Kentucky, northern Tennessee and southern Indiana.

UV&S President Lee Spence said LSS is a good addition to his company.

“We’re very pleased to acquire Land Shark Shredding,” Spence said in a news release. “They have a tremendous reputation throughout the region and have a great team of dedicated employees with the same emphasis on customer service that will mesh seamlessly with our company. This acquisition also allows us to expand our footprint into western Kentucky and bring new services to Land Shark Shredding’s existing client base.”

Founded in 1959, UV&S provides records storage, NAID-certified destruction services and data center and technology support to worldwide clients along with event services to the entertainment industry.

Gerard said UV&S has bought only a portion of Land Shark’s total business, explaining that 70 percent of the company’s business is in contracts with the federal government.

“We have about 35 government contracts,” said Gerard, a former U.S. Air Force pilot who explained that LSS qualifies for government contracts through the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business program.

Gerard, who plans to “take a couple of months off” after selling his company, said the timing for the sale was right because of policies he is expecting from the Joe Biden presidential administration.

“I’m scared of the Democrats taking over and raising corporate taxes through the roof,” he said.