Biffa Acquires Greenstar UK

Biffa Ltd’s two controlling shareholders, Montagu Private Equity and Global Infrastructure Partners, have reached an agreement to acquire Greenstar UK from NTR plc, for £135 million (US$197 million). The transaction is subject to regulatory and various other approvals. Biffa is a waste management and energy recovery firm based in the United Kingdom. It is expected that Greenstar will be integrated into Biffa’s operations.

In making the announcement, Biffa notes that Greenstar provides a strong fit with Biffa’s strategy to grow its recycling footprint and increase its capacity to provide waste management solutions to its U.K. customers.

Biffa serves more than 70,000 customers through 1,450 collection vehicles and across 128 locations. In the area of recycling, the company process about 500,000 metric tons of recyclables through nine recycling facilities.

Greenstar has a fleet of 569 vehicles that provide collection services to 23 local authorities and more than 900,000 homes. The company also operates several of the largest MRFs in the U.K.

“This acquisition significantly accelerates Biffa’s strategic plans to transition to a recycling and energy-from-waste-focused integrated waste management company,” says Mark Keough, CEO of Biffa. “Greenstar’s substantial recycling platform and commercial approach combined with Biffa’s operational capability and national reach will enable Biffa to provide complete waste management solutions to its growing customer base.”

Ian Wakelin, CEO of Greenstar UK, commented: “Since its inception in 2001, Greenstar has grown to be one of the UK’s leading recycling-led waste management companies and NTR has been a strong, supportive partner in this drive. Going forward and building on the strengths of both organizations, the combined company will be a market-leading, dynamic and customer-focused organization,” says Ian Wakelin, Greenstar UK’s CEO.