IRELAND’S WASTE MARKET is about to lose a major player as Panda has been cleared to take over the waste-collection business of rival Greenstar.
Panda had been hoping to add Greenstar’s 80,000 residential customers to its own 150,000. The two companies are among the largest players in the Irish waste collection market.
Ireland’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), previously announced after conducting a preliminary review into the proposed deal that it would launch a full phase-two investigation.
Such a move is quite rare, and is something that the CCPC has only done about two dozen times since 2003. However the CCPC today said that it has decided to clear the deal, subject to certain conditions.
In a statement the body said that to prevent a “substantial lessening” of competition following the proposed deal, “the legally binding commitments require PandaGreen to sell Greenstar’s domestic waste collection businesses in Fingal and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown”.
Concerns
It said it started its investigation in February and identified some concerns, specifically a “substantial lessening” of competition for domestic customers in the two local authority areas.
The commission said that Panda gave binding commitments to sell Greenstar’s domestic waste collection businesses in both Fingal and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown to a purchaser approved by the CCPC.
This purchaser has been identified as Greyhound, one of the other few large players in the Dublin residential waste market. The CCPC said that Panda has signed non-binding terms of agreement with Greyhound for the sale.
“If the sale to Greyhound does not proceed, the commitments require that the two identified businesses be sold to an alternative purchaser or purchasers to be approved by the CCPC,” it said.
The deal does not include Greenstar’s landfill power-generation business.
Choice
CCPC chairwoman Isolde Goggin said that Panda’s commitment to sell Greenstar’s domestic waste collection businesses in Fingal and Dun Laoghaire ”means that consumers in those areas will continue to have the same amount of choice as they did prior to the merger”.
“Panda has confirmed to the CCPC that consumers in Fingal and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown who are transferred to the new provider will receive the same domestic waste collection service from the new provider on precisely the same terms and conditions – including price – for the remainder of the term of their contracts,” she said.
Panda is estimated to have annual revenues of about €80 million and employ about 70 people. As well as its large residential base, it serves about 15,000 business customers and has operations in Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.
Greenstar, which was bought out of receivership by US investment giant Cerberus in 2014, is estimated to have turnover of about €100 million. As well as its residential operations it has a large commercial arm, employs about 850 people and is active in 11 counties across the country.
Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie
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