Irish Times - 28-08-07
Indaver Ireland buys rival waste company
by Barry O'Halloran

Waste management company Indaver Ireland has bought a rival firm in a deal thought to be worth €10 million.

Indaver yesterday said it had bought Cedar Resource Management, a business that specialises in dealing with waste from industries such as pharmaceuticals and electronics.

Indaver did not reveal the purchase price. However, Cedar has a turnover of €10 million a year, and the industry tends to value companies in line with turnover.

The move will increase Indaver Ireland's own turnover from its current level of about €30 million a year to €40 million, an increase of more than 30 per cent.

The biggest beneficiary of the purchase will be Cedar's managing director, Brendan Keane, who holds the largest stake in the company. Fellow directors Joseph Daly, Brian Gilmore, Tom Lyons and Seán McGarry also hold shares in the group.

Both companies are focused mainly on hazardous waste and have similar clients in the pharmaceutical, chemical, electronics and medical device sectors.

Indaver Ireland managing director John Ahern said yesterday that the deal would allow it to exploit a number of synergies between the two firms.

The Cedar deal is the fifth acquisition made by Belgian-headquartered Indaver since it began trading in the Republic in 1999.

It has already bought Minchem, Ecotrans, and the liquid hazardous waste activities of Safety-Kleen and Cara.

"Ireland is an important part of Indaver's European operations," Mr Ahern said. "We are a multi-national and many of our clients have operations here and want a Europe-wide service, so we have to be here."

Some reports earlier this year indicated that Indaver was planning to move out of the Republic because of the planning delays that have hit its proposals to build two incinerators in the State.

However, Mr Ahern said yesterday that the company intended to continue to invest in the Republic and to pursue opportunities here.

Indaver is seeking planning permission to build incinerators - also called waste-to-energy plants - in Co Meath and at Ringaskiddy in Cork harbour.

Both have been the subject of appeals and judicial reviews. The High Court is expected to begin reviewing the Ringaskiddy proposals at a hearing next month.

The Supreme Court has already given the go-ahead for the Meath facility. However, following a call by the local authority for a larger plant for the county based on growth in its main population centres, Indaver decided to increase its capacity.

As a result, the project had to go back through the planning process. The council granted permission but, following an appeal, the matter is now before An Bord Pleanála.

The board is expected to rule on the plant in the coming weeks, but objectors could go to the High Court and seek to have that ruling judicially reviewed.

The High Court had been waiting for the ruling on the Meath case before progressing with the hearing on the Ringaskiddy proposals.

Mr Ahern said yesterday that he was hopeful that the company would get through the various planning hurdles it faced.

© 2007 The Irish Times