Renewi sells Westcott Park facility for undisclosed sum

Waste-to-product company Renewi announced on Thursday that, further to its update on 9 March, it has sold its non-core Westcott Park anaerobic digestion facility to Olleco - ABP Food Group's renewables division - for an undisclosed sum.

The FTSE 250 company said the sale, completed 28 March, reflected the decision by the board to exit the loss-making facility in line with its strategy to actively manage its municipal portfolio to improve group margins and returns.

Renewi’s board noted that the exit was achieved quicker than expected and that, under new ownership, the facility should benefit from scale, enabling it to operate optimally in the future.

As part of Olleco, the facility would be part of a network of plants servicing the food service sector as part of a fully-closed loop operation.

Olleco served 50,000 customer sites and employed more than 550 people across the UK.

All employees based at Westcott Park would transfer to Olleco, maintaining job security for all working at the facility, Renewi said.

“The sale of our Westcott Park facility is completely in line with our strategy to actively manage our municipal portfolio,” said managing director of Renewi’s municipal division, James Priestley.

“We are taking decisive action to improve the performance of the division and this demonstrates we are delivering against that recovery plan.”

Priestley said the facility and the team based there would now be part of an operation exclusively focused on the food waste market, which would be beneficial for customers and suppliers as well as those people based at the facility.

“We will now work with Olleco to ensure a seamless transition.”