PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)–The utility group Veolia announced on Wednesday evening the signing of a unilateral purchase agreement by which Suez undertakes to acquire 100% of the share capital of Suez Recycling and Recovery UK Group Holdings (Suez R&R UK), the former waste activities of Suez in the United Kingdom, for an amount of 2 billion pounds sterling (about 2.3 billion euros).
“The sale proceeds from the transaction represent an attractive valuation of 16.9 times normalized EBITDA (gross operating surplus) for 2021,” Veolia said.
This signing of a promise between the two French community services groups follows the exercise by Suez of its right of first refusal, when Veolia announced last August an agreement to sell Vigie’s waste activities in the Kingdom. United to Macquarie.
This sale aims to respond to the concerns of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the British competition authority, regarding the merger of Veolia and Suez.
At the end of August, the CMA asked Veolia to carry out three disposals in the United Kingdom and in Europe because of the risks it identified in the context of the merger between the two French groups of utilities.
“The total amount of the antitrust disposals, which amounts to approximately 3.4 billion euros, and in particular of this latest transaction [Suez R&R UK, ndlr]will bring Veolia’s debt leverage to well below 3x,” Veolia said.
The third player in the field of recycling and waste recovery in the United Kingdom, Suez R&R UK employs approximately 6,000 people for a turnover of more than 900 million pounds sterling.
“The acquisition of Suez R&R in the UK will significantly reinforce Suez’s strategy, strengthening its waste recovery activities and diversifying its geographical footprint”, commented Sabrina Soussan, CEO of Suez.
The completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of the CMA.
-Vincent Alsuar, Agefi-Dow Jones; 01 41 27 47 39; [email protected] ed: ECH
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September 21, 2022 13:19 ET (17:19 GMT)