December 08, 2016

PAPREC agrees to buy COVED from the Saur Group


At the start of December, PAPREC GROUP signed an irrevocable and binding commitment with the SAUR Group for its acquisition of COVED. Following completion of the consultation processes and receipt of the usual authorisations - including that of the competition regulator - the acquisition is now expected to complete in spring 2017. The result will be the creation of a national waste collection, recovery and recycling champion. The new business will generate revenue in excess of €1.3 billion with a workforce of 8,000 employees.

In completing this transaction, the SAUR Group has been able to ensure the future development of COVED by selling the company to the French recycling market leader. At the same time, it releases the finance required by the Group to refocus on its water core business in France and internationally.

For PAPREC GROUP, this acquisition represents a superb opportunity to continue on its path to growth in the waste collection, recovery and recycling market.

"There is a very real level of complementarity between the key business lines and expertise of COVED, which has a strong presence as a provider of services to local authorities, and those of PAPREC, which is a fast-growing company that is particularly strong in industrial waste recycling and recovery", says PAPREC GROUP Founder & Chairman Jean-Luc Petithuguenin. The coming together of these two entities will establish the new business as a major stakeholder in comprehensive waste management not only in France, but also internationally.

"It's the beginning of a new era for PAPREC GROUP, which will be making the largest acquisition in its history. It will be done in the same way as we always proceed: on the basis of respecting the values of COVED and PAPREC, and through a process of integration that respects everyone involved and the customers of both businesses", continues Jean-Luc Petithuguenin.

Acquisition advisers / On behalf of the Saur Group: Rothschild (financial counsel - Vincent Danjoux and Frederic Tengelmann); Eversheds (legal counsel – Franck Bourgeois).

Acquisition advisers / On behalf of the Paprec Group: EY Corporate Finance (Rudy Cohen Scali and Olivier Catonnet), Weil (legal counsel - Frédéric Cazals).

About Paprec Group:

The group was founded and has been headed since its creation by Jean-Luc Petithuguenin. Paprec Group has become the hyper-specialist in recycling. In 25 years, it has grown from 45 to 4,500 employees, and now operates from around 110 sites in France and Switzerland. Paprec Group reported revenue in excess of €950 million in 2016, having collected, recovered and recycled more than 7 million tonnes of waste during the year. Since the group was founded in 1994, it has averaged 25% year-on-year growth in tonnage and revenue.

As France's leading independent recycler with an involvement in all existing channels, the group leads the market in the recycling of plastics, paper, cardboard and building waste, and in sorted household waste collection. It is the market number two in the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment, and number three for organic waste, wood and biomass.

Throughout its history, Paprec Group has been known and acknowledged for its commitment to promoting diversity and secularism, and for taking a zero tolerance approach to any form of discrimination within the company. In recognition of this commitment, Paprec Group received the AXA global award for responsible companies in October 2016. And in November 2016, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin was named as Entrepreneur of the Year at the BMF Business Awards.

About Coved:

COVED provides expertise in every aspect of waste collection, from the cleansing of public spaces to waste sorting, processing, storage and recycling. Now the French market Number 3, it employs around 3,000 people all over France and reported annual revenue of €340 million for 2015. During the same financial year, COVED collected and processed around 3 million tonnes of waste, serving more than 5 million people.

About Saur:

As a longstanding environmental services leader, SAUR Group serves local authorities and industrial companies in the successful implementation of development projects in water supply and treatment, environmental services (Coved), engineering (Stereau), infrastructure services (Cise TP) and leisure activities (Blue Green and Flower Campings). Saur worldwide presence Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Spain, Poland, Cyprus. 2015 key figures: 1€1.6 billion 2015 Group net revenue, 10,000 local authorities contracted, 12,000 employees and 18 million consumers in France and worldwide.

https://www.saur.com/

Press contact - Saur

FTI Consulting - Astrid Villette - Tel.: +33(0)1 47 03 69 51 / Mobile: +33(0)6 74 91 48 05 astrid.villette@fticonsulting.com

Press contact - Paprec

Paprec Group – Agathe Remoué – Tel.: +33(0)1 42 11 33 93 / Mobile: +33(0)6 27 47 60 69

agathe.remoue@paprec.com