The company, set up by former Waste Recycling Group chairman David Williams and floated on the Alternate Investment Market in September (see letsrecycle.com story), will acquire Atlantic Waste Holdings and Zero Waste Holdings for 106 million including debts.
”The hazardous waste market is growing extremely fast following the legislative changes introduced in July 2004. “
– John Huntingdon, Augean
The deal has the backing of the companies proposed for acquisition, but awaits the formal approval of Augean's shareholders, which will be sought at a meeting on December 13.
Augean has identified hazardous waste management as a high-growth sector because of the Landfill Directive ban on sending hazardous waste to non-dedicated disposal facilities, which came into force in July 2004.
Announcing the proposed acquisitions, Augean chief executive John Huntingdon said: “The hazardous waste market is growing extremely fast following the legislative changes introduced in July 2004 and Augean is in a strong position to capitalise on those changes.”
The investment firm are to pay 100 million in cash for the “loss making” Atlantic and Zero, an acquisition that will give Augean an important stranglehold on merchant hazardous waste landfill capacity, especially in the South East and North East of England.
Between them, Atlantic and Zero own and operate two of only four “widely permitted” operational hazardous waste merchant landfill sites in the UK, Augean said, adding that planning and regulatory requirements are acting as barriers to entry for other merchant sites to be set up.
WasteGo
Atlantic operates two landfills under the trading name “WasteGo”. These include a 31 hectare hazardous waste site at King's Cliffe, near Peterborough, which has a licence to accept 249,999 tonnes of hazardous material a year until 2013.
The company also runs the Thornhaugh landfill, three miles from the King's Cliffe site, which has a licence to take in 200,000 tonnes of non-hazardous material each year until 2013. The 31 hectare Thornhaugh site is also awaiting a permit for monocells that would be able to take hazardous site, Augean said.
Zero Waste
Zero operates the Port Clarence site near Middlesborough, which is licensed to take in 100,000 tonnes of hazardous waste a year, and also has facilities for the disposal of up to 1,145,000 tonnes of non-hazardous material each year. The 103 hectare site is the only operational hazardous waste site in the North East and has a licence that runs until 2016.
Zero also runs the Marks Quarry landfill on the outskirts of Durham, a non-hazardous landfill facility that takes in 200,000 tonnes of non-hazardous material each year, but is due to close in September 2005.
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