Fortum completes waste and recycling divestiture

Finland-based energy company Fortum has completed the divestiture of its recycling and waste business to Sweden-based Summa Equity. The transaction initially was announced this July.

Summa will pay approximately $840 million on a debt- and cash-free basis, according to Fortum, which will record a tax-exempt capital gain of about $190 million.

When the transaction was announced in July, Summa reported that the Fortum assets it would acquire include municipal and industrial waste management and end-to-end plastics, metals, ash, slag and hazardous waste treatment and recycling services.

The recycling and waste assets are located in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway and employ approximately 900 people, according to Summa.

Fortum calls the divestment of its recycling and waste business part of a strategic review of its Circular Solutions business segment. That review continues pertaining to its battery recycling and United Kingdom-based waste-to-energy business.

Founded in 2016, Summa Equity is an impact investor focusing on three thematic areas: resource efficiency, changing demographics and tech-enabled transformation. The three Summa funds have approximately $5.25 billion in assets under management and have made more than 30 investments to date, according to the Swedish firm.

Among Summa Equity’s other recycling-related investments are a majority stake in Netherlands-based equipment maker Bollegraaf Group and ownership of two regional northern European recycling firms: NG Group and Sortera Group (which is not affiliated with the Indiana-based alloyed metals sorting technology firm Sortera Technologies).