Veolia Environnement and energy company EDF have announced an agreement over the future of their joint venture Dalkia group, following approval by the board of directors of both companies.
Under the transaction agreement signed yesterday (March 25), Veolia Environnement the parent company of UK waste business Veolia Environmental Services will take over biomass and anaerobic digestion specialist Dalkias international operations including in the UK.
And, the agreement which is subject to the approval of the relevant competition authorities will also see EDF take full control of Dalkias activities in France. The announcement follows the completion of the employee consultation process.
It was revealed in October (see letsrecycle.com story) that discussions were taking place between the two firms over the Dalkia transaction, with Veolia Environnement expected to make a cash payment of 550 million Euros (460 million) to EDF to compensate for the difference in value between the stakes owned by the two shareholders in Dalkia International.
Among Dalkias UK operations is the 120,000 tonnes per year capacity waste wood-fed biomass plant at Chilton, County Durham, which began operations in 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The plant is one of the first biomass facilities to be developed in the UK dedicated to burning domestic waste wood and also sells electricity to the National Grid, rather than to an industrial site.
It also has plans for a 360,000 tonnes per year capacity waste wood burning biomass plant at Pollington in Yorkshire which was originally scheduled to come online in 2014 but has been subject to a number of delays (see letsrecycle.com story).
Speaking ahead of the UK Budget last week (March 19), executive vice-president of Veolia Environnement in the UK and Europe, Estelle Brachlianoff, said that Veolia had invested 1.6 billion in the UK over the past 14 years and called on the UK government to support waste projects in order to encourage more inward investment (see letsrecycle.com story).
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