Cleanaway to buy Suez recycling operations for $2.5 billion

Cleanaway Waste Management has agreed to buy the recycling and recovery businesses of Suez Groupe in Australia for $2.52 billion, subject to various conditions.

The waste management and recycling company will buy what is a high quality, nationally vertically integrated waste management and environmental solutions business employing 2,000 people, according to Cleanaway.

It includes six landfills, 59 collection facilities, eight organics processing plants, two medical waste facilities and more than 1,000 vehicles.

The Suez businesses generated a normalised profit of $216 million on revenues of $1.4 billion in the 2020 calendar year.

The acquisition will deliver:

• A complementary national portfolio of infrastructure assets
• Energy from waste development projects
• And additional scale and scope to accelerate the company’s growth.

However as Suez us subject to a tender offer by another competitor, Veolia Environment, Suez may terminate the Cleanaway acquisition by 6 May should that takeover proceed, and by 26 April should a superior offer for the company be made and not matched by Cleanaway.

Should the deal not go ahead, Cleanaway will in any case acquire a portfolio of strategic post collections assets in Sydney from Suez for $501 million.

These compromise two landfills and five transfer stations.

Cleanaway proposes to raise new equity from existing shareholders to finance the purchase.

Cleanaway COO Brendan Gill said: “Cleanaway will continue to maintain a strong balance sheet following whichever transaction is completed, and will retain ample capacity to support future growth of the combined group.”

Picture: Cleanaway

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