Italian municipal services provider Gruppo Hera (Bologna; www.gruppohera.it) has signed a binding agreement for the piecemeal acquisition of plastic waste collection and recycling specialist Aliplast (Ospedaletto d'Istrana, Treviso / Italy; www.aliplastspa.com). The deal, carried out through Hera’s Herambiente waste treatment and recovery subsidiary, still has to meet the necessary regulatory approval. Under the agreement, Hera will acquire a 40% stake in Aliplast this year, with another 40% due to be purchased by March 2018 and the remaining 20% by June 2022. The deal values the Treviso-based company, which purports to be the leading player in Italy in its particular field, at about EUR 100m.

Founded in 1982, Aliplast has a throughput of more than 80,000 t/y of plastics, and is expected to see 2015 sales of more than EUR 100m, at an EBITDA of about EUR 15m. The company’s 300 employees are spread across five sites in Italy as well as one each in Spain, France and Poland. Aliplast’s clients include leading Italian food and beverage as well as furniture producers, among others.

For waste specialist Herambiente, the acquisition constitutes the next step in its geographic expansion as well as its portfolio integration. Apart from that, the addition of Aliplast will help the company put in place the necessary circular economy practices to achieve the European Union’s targets for 2025 and 2030, Hera executive chairman Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano said.