March 2008

Page 19 from: March 2008

... sight across the UK, adds that an even higher bid for the business may be forthcoming from another party that has been carrying out due diligence checks on its books. Biffa is involved in all areas of waste management in the UK, including ge...

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Recycling International • March 2008 19For daily free global recycling news, visit

UK waste collection firm Biffa has
confirmed a take-over offer worth
£1.2 billion (US$ 2.35 billion) from a
consortium of private equity con-
cerns. But Biffa, whose 1500 vehi-
cles are a familiar sight across the
UK, adds that an even higher bid for
the business may be forthcoming
from another party that has been
carrying out due diligence checks on
its books.

Biffa is involved in all areas of
waste management in the UK,
including general refuse collection,
recycling, landfilling, handling haz-
ardous waste and cleaning. The com-
pany operates 86 depots which
together collected around 4 million
tonnes of refuse last year.

The consortium comprising
Montagu Funds, Global Infrastruc-
ture Partners and UCIL is offering

350 pence a share for the company.
Montagu’s Jason Gatenby says Biffa
represents ‘a market-leading busi-
ness with a great workforce in a sec-
tor we understand well and where
we have a demonstrable track record
of success’. Biffa’s Non-Executive
Chairman Bob Davies says the buy-
ers’ investment plans ‘will help max-
imise the opportunities presented by
changing legislation to deliver
growth into the medium term’.

In November last year, Montagu
and HgCapital announced that they
had approached Biffa several weeks
earlier about a possible cash offer –
later revealed to be 330 pence a share
– but that this had been rejected.
HgCapital withdrew its interest in
January, at which point the unnamed
third party signalled its interest.

www.biffa.co.uk

UK waste giant is
takeover target

Catalyst acquires US
newsprint maker

Catalyst Paper Corp. of Vancouver,
Canada, has struck a deal with a sub-
sidiary of AbitibiBowater to acquire a
recycled newsprint mill in Snowflake,
Arizona, USA, for US$ 161 million.
The deal will be partly financed by a
proposed C$ 125 million rights offer.
The sum excludes trade receivables of
about US$ 19 million that are being
retained by Montreal-based
AbitibiBowater.

The acquisition will increase
Catalyst Paper’s total newsprint
production capacity to around 980
000 tonnes per annum. ‘The
Snowflake mill, a leading recycled
newsprint producer with annual
production capacity of 375 000
tonnes on two modern paper
machines, is regarded as one of the
lowest-cost newsprint mills in North
America,’ according to Catalyst.

The two companies have also
agreed to a three-year supply con-
tract under which AbitibiBowater
will provide some 40% of the

Snowflake mill’s recycled fibre
requirements in the first year – a
proportion that will decrease over
the life of the agreement.

In 2006, the Snowflake mill gen-
erated earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA) of US$ 58 million on net
revenues of US$ 195 million. For the
12 months ending September 30
2007, the mill generated EBITDA of
US$ 30 million on net revenues of
US$ 185 million.

CEO of Catalyst Paper Richard
Garneau comments: ‘This acquisi-
tion will provide Catalyst with a nat-
ural hedge against Canadian dollar
fluctuations and is particularly
timely in the current environment of
virgin fibre supply constraints.’
Catalyst Paper intends to source the
remainder of the mill’s fibre require-
ments direct from the recycling mar-
ket in western North America.

www.catalystpaper.com

According to the Maritime and
Port Authority of Singapore (MPA),
container traffic hit 27.9 million
TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units)
last year – a 12.7% increase over 2006.
Singapore also maintained its leading
position in terms of bunker sales and
total vessel calls, claims Singapore’s
Minister for Transport Raymond Lim.

MPA’s Chief Executive Tay Lim
Heng comments: ‘The good results
reinforce our status as a global hub
port. They also reflect the successful
partnership between the MPA and
the industry, as Singapore develops
further as an international maritime
centre.’

However, Singapore was only nar-
rowly ahead of Shanghai in terms of
container throughput, with the
Chinese port handling 26.15 million
TEUs to give year-on-year growth of
over 20%. Total cargo throughput at

Singapore climbed 7.8% last year to
483.4 million tonnes – some 80 mil-
lion tonnes short of Shanghai’s total
of 560 million tonnes. Shanghai has
been the world’s busiest port in
terms of total cargo tonnage for the
last three years.

Projects worth US$ 1.4 billion
(Euro 0.95 billion) are already under
way to boost Singapore’s capacity by
some 40%. The expansion pro-
gramme is slated to add 16 berths to
the Pasir Panjang terminal, increas-
ing its annual handling capacity by
14 million TEUs. Due for completion
in 2013, these new facilities will sup-
plement the 13 berths already being
built by the Port of Singapore
Authority under another project due
for completion in 2009 which will
boost its total handling capacity in
Singapore to 35 million TEUs per
annum.

Singapore – the world’s
busiest container port

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