UK’s Biffa receives takeover offer

United Kingdom-based waste and recycling firm Biffa PLC says it has received an offer to be acquired by New Jersey-based equity fund Energy Capital Partners Management LP (ECP) and its affiliates.

The board of Biffa has announced receiving “a series of unsolicited and indicative proposals from affiliates of ECP on behalf of funds and other investment vehicles managed and/or advised by ECP and its affiliates to acquire the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of [Biffa].”

ECP’s most recent proposal, says Biffa, concerns a possible offer at a price of 445 pence ($5.57) per Biffa share in cash. That proposal, the Biffa board says, is “subject to the satisfaction or waiver of a number of customary pre-conditions, including satisfactory completion of due diligence.”

The board of Biffa says it has carefully evaluated the proposal together with its financial adviser, Rothschild & Co., and has concluded “that should a firm offer be made on the same financial terms as the proposal, it would be minded to recommend it to Biffa shareholders, subject to the agreement of other customary terms and conditions.”

The board has thus granted ECP access to due diligence materials.

Last year, Biffa acquired material recovery facilities and other assets from Viridor Waste Management Ltd. That transaction helped make Biffa “one of the largest recyclers of postconsumer materials in the U.K.,” the company said at the time.

On its website, ECP lists 45 companies in its past or present portfolio, including scrap tire processor Liberty Tire. For several years, ECP also owned waste-to-energy plant operator Wheelabrator Technologies.