Cleanaway frontrunner in SKM sale, as suitors notified

The sales process for the collapsed waste collection company SKM Recycling is under way, with suitors being told to lob bids by September 30.

However, the widespread expectation is that the company is purchased by Cleanaway Waste Management after it acquired SKM’s debt from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia last month.

This is also based on the short time frame for the sale process.

Expressions of interest for the business were released into the market on Tuesday and
first-round bids are due next week.

The thinking is that any suitor would have to pay more than $75m for the operation to cover its debt.

CBA was a lender to SKM along with Westpac, which is only owed about $10m and
has security over SKM’s Glass Recovery Services business.

Cleanaway purchased the debt for $60m.

Working with SKM is insolvency firm KordaMentha and law firm Ashurst.

The outcome of any sale is expected to have ramifications for the state of Victoria, with exports of recycling waste no longer being sent to China and the existing refuse instead sent to landfill if an alternative solution cannot be found.

Cleanaway boss Vik Bansal indicated last month the company would be interested in acquiring SKM if it came on the market.

Some have also suggested that Bingo Industries may have expressed some interest in the company.