The assets sold include the high temperature incinerator and waste-to-energy plant at Fawley as well as eight other chemical treatment sites. The Fawley plant is one of only two merchant facilities that are operational in the United Kingdom.
“The transaction releases financial and management resources to focus on the core business”
The sale of the hazardous waste business does not include the liquid waste processing plant at Granton. In a separate transaction, Shanks has sold the £6 million site to property developers Waterfront Edinburgh Ltd.
Shanks
Shanks will benefit from a cash injection at a time when the company is pushing to pick up Private Finance Initiative contracts in the municipal waste sector.
Shanks has been pruning its UK operation over the last few years – including the sale of its £230 million landfill arm to WRG-parent Terra Firma in 2004 – and said today its hazardous waste business had made the group minimal profits in 2004/05.
Michael Averill, group chief executive said: “I am delighted with this disposal of our non-core Hazwaste activities. Onyx are committed to this market which I am sure will be beneficial to our former employees and customers in the future. Additionally the transaction releases financial and management resources to focus on the core business”.
“We see a real strategic opportunity to add value for our customers”
Onyx
For Onyx, the acquisition will build on the company’s services in the Hampshire area and position them as a market leader in hazardous waste treatment – particularly in the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors. The Fawley site is located close to the new energy-from-waste facility being commissioned by Onyx at Marchwood.
Cyrille du Peloux, chief executive, Onyx said: “This is yet another positive move by Onyx where we see a real strategic opportunity to add value for our customers by providing a fully integrated approach with a comprehensive range of treatment and disposal options. With the skills and technical capabilities now within our means we will naturally create a number of business synergies.”
Shanks said the sale of the hazardous waste business would mean £5m would be paid into the Group’s UK defined benefit pension scheme to cover the residual liabilities of the employees of the business who have become deferred pensioners. The balance of the proceeds after costs will be used to fund corporate development both in the UK and the Benelux.
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