Essent Cancels Sale Of Essent Milieu
June 03 2009 - 5:08AM
Dow Jones News
Dutch utility Essent NV said Wednesday it has decided to cancel
the sale of Essent Milieu, its waste management unit, as the
bidders' offers weren't satisfactory.
Essent spokesman Jeroen Brouwers told Dow Jones Newswires that
the prices offered by the remaining bidders didn't meet the
company's criteria.
In May, Dow Jones Newswires reported that three potential buyers
were still in the sale process. They included the Orange
consortium, consisting of infrastructure funds managed by Dutch
banks NIBC Bank and Fortis Bank Netherlands; Covanta Holding Corp.
(CVA) together with an unnamed financial party; and private equity
firm PAI Partners, one of the people said.
Earlier this year, the lion's share of Essent's activities was
sold to German utilities company RWE AG (RWE.XE) for EUR9.3
billion. This excluded Essent's power grids business and its waste
management unit, Essent Milieu.
In February, Essent Mileu was put up for sale, in a deal that
was being advised by ING (INGA.AE) and Credit Suisse (CS).
Essent wanted to sell its waste management before the completion
of the takeover by RWE, which is due in the third-quarter of
2009.
As previously reported by Dow Jones Newswires, the waste
management unit is likely to be valued at around EUR1 billion.
By Maarten van Tartwijk and Robin van Daalen; Dow Jones
Newswires; +31-20-5715200; maarten.vantartwijk@dowjones.com