Energy from waste business Covanta is looking for a buyer as one option towards a possible exit from the UK for the firm.
The company has reviewed its options after failing to win preferred bidder status in the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority’s 30-year residual waste treatment contract to SITA UK.
It is investigating the option of seeking a buyer for the business, or alternatively a partner to work with it in the UK.
Its assets include the three strategic sites that have planning consent for energy from waste facilities and permits (either confirmed or advanced drafts from the Environment Agency).
These sites are Rookery in Bedfordshire, which is consented for 585,000 tonnes per annum, Ince in Cheshire (850,000 tonnes per annum) and Green Hills near Airdrie, Scotland (300,000 tonnes per year). It also has a leasehold interest in a site in Middlewich, Cheshire.
Other assets include municipal waste procurements in various stages and an existing waste contract.
In a statement, Covanta said: “Covanta has made considerable investments in the sites in order to secure consents and hopes these will now move to the construction phase, with the support of buyers and partners.
“Once the facilities are built, Covanta would be interested in running them.”
The company is now consulting staff, with the majority of its 30 staff facing redundancy if a buyer or partner can’t be found.
Managing director Malcolm Chilton has left the company and has been replaced by director of legal and corporate affairs Fiona Penhallurick.
