WasteCo Expands To North Island With Civic Waste Acquisition

WasteCo Group Limited (NZX: WCO) is pleased to announce it is expanding its commercial operations into the North Island through its conditional acquisition of Auckland-based waste management company Civic Waste Limited.

“This investment represents an exciting inflection point for WasteCo, illustrating the company’s previously advised intention to aggressively grow its commercial operations through strategic acquisitions and to expand its geographical commercial footprint beyond the South Island,” WasteCo Chair Shane Edmond says.

WasteCo has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire 100% of the shares on issue of Civic Waste Ltd for $9 million, together with an earn-out component based on achieving financial performance milestones during the following 12 months.

The acquisition is anticipated to contribute approximately $20 million of additional revenue to WasteCo’s consolidated financial performance over the next 12 months.

WasteCo has secured $15 million of new private investment funding to support this acquisition and provide additional capital for future growth initiatives and acquisitions.

WasteCo has entered into a conditional subscription agreement with Empire Waste Technology Ltd in respect of the issue of $15 million of convertible notes. Empire Waste Technology is part of Simon and Paula Herbert’s Empire Capital group of companies.

WasteCo will be seeking shareholder approval for the convertible notes issuance.

Empire Waste Technology Director Simon Herbert says, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to participate in the capitalisation of WasteCo in conjunction with the acquisition of Civic Waste.

“We believe the New Zealand waste industry represents a robust sector to be investing in. WasteCo is well positioned to prosper as macroeconomic conditions improve next year and to continue to investigate and execute upon further acquisition opportunities in the fragmented waste sector,” Simon Herbert says.

Civic Waste is a well-established waste management company with operations, contracts and 150 employees in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington.

“This acquisition represents WasteCo’s first North Island investment, enabling future growth and alignment with our national corporate agreements,” Shane Edmond says.

Civic Waste was founded in 1987 and has a fleet of more than 150 vehicles and specialised equipment ranging from 100% EV vehicles to 10,000-litre vacuum trucks.

It provides a variety of waste and streetscape services to residential, commercial, and council-controlled organisations including waste collection and disposal; litter management; kerbside rubbish and recycling collection; mechanical sweeping and scrubbing; catchpit and sump cleaning; hydro-excavation; and waste processing.

Civic Waste Managing Director Bjorn Revfeim will remain actively involved in the business.

The acquisition is conditional principally upon:

* WasteCo shareholder approval of the notes
* The satisfaction of other conditions customary for a transaction of this nature.

It is anticipated that the acquisition will complete prior to the Christmas break.

The terms of the convertible notes are outlined in today’s NZX announcement with the conditions of the subscription agreement.

Proposed launch of Share Purchase Plan

In conjunction with the Civic Waste acquisition and the Empire Waste Technology investment, WasteCo also aims to raise $3 million in new equity by offering a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) to all existing shareholders.

The SPP will allow shareholders to participate in and benefit from the ongoing expansion and growth strategy of WasteCo by subscribing to new ordinary shares at a price of $0.02 per new share.

More details of the SPP are outlined in today’s NZX announcement.

These strategic actions reflect WasteCo’s commitment to enhancing shareholder value, expanding its geographic and operational footprint, and pursuing sustainable growth through acquisitions, Shane Edmond says.

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