Hera Group: green light from Antitrust authorities for Herambiente to acquire Aliplast

Thanks to this operation, whose enterprise value amounts to roughly € 100 million, the Hera Group confirms its position among Italy's leaders in recycling and developing a circular economy.

Authorisation has been granted by the Italian antitrust authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) for the acquisition carried out by Herambiente, a company of the Hera Group and a nationwide leader in waste treatment and recovery, of the Treviso company Aliplast, an outstanding operator in the sector of plastic waste collection and recycling with subsequent regeneration.

The implementation of the agreement, signed last 11 January by Herambiente and Aligroup S.r.l., was in fact subject to conditions that are the norm for similar operations, among which gaining authorisation for the acquisition from antitrust authorities.

As foreseen by the agreement, Herambiente and Aliplast will therefore undertake all that is required to purchase 40% of Aliplast's shares in the upcoming weeks. A further 40% will be acquired within March 2018 and the remaining 20% within June 2022. The operation's enterprise value, it should be recalled, amounts to roughly € 100 million and implies an EV/EBITDA multiple of approximately 6.5, non-dilutive for Hera shareholders.

This important operation, complementary to those finalised in late 2015 involving Waste Recycling (Castelfranco di Sotto, Pisa) and the environmental assets of Geo Nova (Treviso) as well as the more recent acquisition of the Teseco plants (Pisa), is part of a move to enlarge the geographical area in which the Hera Group operates, initiated some years ago and in line with the Group's strategies of territorial expansion and integration.

Falling under the objective of developing a green model, towards which the Hera Group has actively contributed over its entire history, the acquisition of Aliplast furthermore consolidates Herambiente's market presence with a distinctive and unique element, in line with the principles of a circular economy in which waste is transformed into resources.

Herambiente is among the first companies in the waste sector to have decided to take on the challenges raised by changes currently taking place in the world of industry. It is thus able to place activities such as waste recovery, treatment and disposal alongside others that call for the utmost efficiency in resource management. It is also able to offer strategic advice concerning resource lifecycle productivity in order to accelerate and facilitate the achievement of 2030 sustainability goals. These are, incidentally, objectives that Herambiente has already achieved in the areas it serves in managing urban waste, of which only 8.5% was disposed of in landfills in 2015.

Established in 1982 by Roberto Alibardi and operating out of Ospedaletto di Istrana (Treviso), Aliplast is a national centre of excellence in plastic industrial waste collection and recycling and regenerated polymer production, with over 80,000 tonnes of plastic materials recycled every year. It was the first enterprise in Italy to fully integrate the entire lifecycle of plastic, from environmental services in managing and collecting industrial packaging and residues to production and market sales of manufactured goods and packaging materials, produced with plastic recycled by the company itself.
Over three hundred employees work for Aliplast, distributed among its five plants located in Italy and three found abroad (Spain, France and Poland). Its main clients include the most important Italian brands involved in food & beverages, home furnishings and ceramics.