One51 scraps plan to buy waste firm

DUBLIN-BASED investment group One51, which is headed by Philip Lynch, has abandoned its approach to acquire the publicly quoted UK hazardous waste business Augean.

In a statement to the stock market, One51, which is Augean’s biggest shareholder, said that it was “disappointed to confirm that it is no longer considering making an offer for Augean”, following a number of months of discussion with the board of Augean.

One51 announced in August 2008 that it had “approached the board of Augean about the possibility of making an offer for the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital” of the Yorkshire-based company.

One51 was advised by Davy Corporate Finance about the possibility of making a bid for the waste group.

One51 did not give a reason as to why the approach had not led to a formal bid, but it is understood that the company did conduct initial due diligence on Augean last autumn. At the time, the waste group said it had received “a number of preliminary approaches” from potential interested parties.

However, no bidding war took place.

In a letter to shareholders in May, One51 said it was “continuing to review our options” regarding Augean.

One51 spent €25-30 million building up a 26.9 per cent stake in Augean between late 2006 and early 2007, but had seen the value of its investment decline as the UK company experienced difficult trading.

Augean is involved in the collection of hazardous waste material in Britain and also owns landfill sites.