MILAN, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Italian waste management operator Waste Italia is in talks to sell the company to China’s Sound Global, the main shareholder of Waste Italia said on Thursday.
“They made an offer in July which we judged inadequate. They have now relaunched and we are starting to work on it,” Pietro Colucci told Reuters in an interview.
Colucci, the head of Italian renewable energy company Kinexia, owns 63.7 percent of Waste Italia, the country’s largest private manager of industrial waste.
Italian private equity firm Synergo owns another 32.7 percent. It is keen to exit its investment but to date no solution palatable to both investors has been found.
To meet Synergo’s demands, Colucci has agreed to the talks with water and waste treatment provider Sound Global, which has a market value of around $730 million.
Colucci said if a deal with the Asian group did not happen, Waste Italia would be merged with Kinexia, with Synergo receiving Kinexia shares that it could then sell – an option he preferred.