PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)–Veolia announced on Monday that it will sell Suez’s UK waste business to asset manager Macquarie Asset Management, to address concerns from the UK competition authority. concerning the merger of the two French groups of services to local authorities.
The operation represents sale proceeds of approximately 2.4 billion euros for Veolia, the group said in a press release. “The valuation level of this sale, showing a multiple of 16.9x normalized 2021 EBITDA, stands at a level significantly higher than the acquisition price resulting from the takeover price” on Suez closed at the start of the year. year, said Veolia.
“This price level makes it possible to immediately crystallize the value of all the synergies then envisaged”, added the group.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom, the last competition authority not to have given the green light on the combination of Veolia and Suez, must render its decision by September 11, 2022.
“Following the completion of this antitrust remedy, Veolia will remain a major player in the waste treatment market in the United Kingdom with a turnover of approximately 2 billion euros”, underlined Veolia.
All of the antitrust disposals represent approximately 3.4 billion euros, and will “reduce the group’s debt leverage to significantly below 3x”, added Veolia.
-Alice Doré, Agefi-Dow Jones; +33 (0)1 41 27 47 90; [email protected] ed: LBO
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August 08, 2022 01:56 ET (05:56 GMT)