Ballymount waste company generates massive profits

BALLYMOUNT company Beauparc Utilities, the owner of waste operator Panda and Greenstar, has seen massive profits in waste collection propelling the group towards a €1.3 billion sale to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Mira).

Financing documents relating to transaction revealed Beauparc’s Irish residential collection business operates on profit margins of 35 per cent, well in excess of the profitability of other parts of the group.

The Ballymount group has a 21 per cent share of waste collection here, serving 265,000 households, more than 2.5 times its nearest competitors.

It also has growing operations in the UK and Holland.

The UK now accounts for one-third of the group’s revenues, with the company projecting revenues of €1bn by 2030.

Beauparc founder Eamon Waters owns a 67 per cent stake in the company

New York investment group Blackstone acquired a 37.6 per cent stake in Beauparc two years ago for an undisclosed sum.

Late last year, Blackstone put its stake on the market which attracted takeover approaches from dozens of private equity firms.

Mira is acquiring Beauparc for a total of a €1.4bn, though this includes a debt of €113m.

Expectation are that Water’s stake could be worth over €800m while Blackstone would clear close to €500m.

Mr Waters set up Panda in 1990 on land adjoining his family’s filling station business in Beauparc, near Slane, Co Meath.

It acquired Greenstar in 2016 and it expanded the same year into the UK market through acquisition.

In 2018, it purchased Dutch waste and recycling business Renes.

Beauparc employs more than 3,200 people across 51 sites in Ireland, Britain and the Netherlands, processing four million tonnes of waste every year, according to its website.