Recycle group sale is strategically important

Mar 25 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

LAW firm Ward Hadaway has helped to complete a fourth major deal for leading European waste management plc Shanks Group.

The Newcastle firm advised Shanks Waste Management Ltd, a subsidiary of Shanks Group plc, on the £2m sale of its waste collection and management business in South Wales to Sita UK Ltd.

The Swansea business collects, recycles and disposes of commercial and industrial waste from more than 750 customers in South Wales. It was sold as part of Shanks Group’s plans to focus on its three core areas in the UK – Scotland, the East Midlands and the Northern Home Counties.

Ward Hadaway’s corporate finance department led the firm’s team on the deal, with help from colleagues in commercial property employment and pensions departments. Partner and head of corporate finance Martin Hulls said: “Shanks Group is Europe’s largest listed independent waste management solutions company, so to be selected to advise on this strategically important sale is a valuable endorsement of Ward Hadaway’s capabilities.

“Acting for a large plc outside the North East demonstrates that we have a genuine national presence and are trusted by major players to help achieve their business goals.”

The sale of Shanks’s South Wales business is the latest in a series of deals on which Ward Hadaway has advised the FTSE 250 group. Last September, it advised Shanks Waste Management on the sale of its waste management operations in Liverpool to global environmental services group Veolia and also acted on the £6.4m acquisition of Northamptonshire recycling and waste transfer business Wastecom Ltd in November 2007 and the £34m sale of its UK hazardous waste business in September 2005.

The firm has also advised both Shanks Group plc and its trading subsidiary on a number of other smaller acquisitions in the past few years.

Shanks Waste Management managing director Ian Goodfellow said: “Ward Hadaway has consistently provided us with timely, efficient advice and the sale of our South Wales business was no exception.”