Biffa aquires rival O'Brien for £35.2m in cash

Biffa announced Wednesday completion of the acquisition of O'Brien Waste Recycling Solutions Holding.

The waste management company acquired O'Brien for a cash consideration of £35.2m with immediate earning potential.

The acquisition was financed from Biffa's existing cash and debt facilities, with a further contingent consideration of £0.9m payable if certain conditions were met.

As of 30 April 2017, O'Brien generated annual revenues edging £34.4m, EBITDA of roughly £6.6m, operating profit of about £5.3m and had approximately 190 staff.

O'Brien was highly complementary to Biffa's existing business, the latter said in a statement.

Its collection business, which served about 3,600 customers and generated revenues of about £20.7m, will be incorporated into Biffa's existing Industrial & Commercial collection business, boosting the combined units' efficiency and customer service offering.

Ian Wakelin, Biffa's chief saw the acquisition as strengthening the company's market presence: "This acquisition significantly strengthens our market presence in the North East of England. We welcome the employees of O'Brien WRS to Biffa and we look forward to working together to provide a great service to our customers."

Similarly, Nathan O'Brien, managing director of O'Brien said joining Biffa would create "exciting" opportunities for the combined businesses: "The opportunity to join Biffa was a natural choice for our business due to Biffa's scale, UK-wide network and complementary capabilities. Being part of a bigger group creates many exciting opportunities for the combined businesses."