Pacific Equity Partners has bowed out of the $1bn-plus competition to buy Waste Services Group, putting The Carlyle Group in pole position to buy the business.
DataRoom reported earlier that Carlyle was shaping up as a strong contender after EQT Infrastructure – earlier considered the party to beat – dropped out of the race because the business did not have enough infrastructure-like characteristics.
Final bids were due on Friday and the finishing touches were being added to the deal on Tuesday.
The business is owned by private equity firm Livingbridge, which remained in negotiations with suitors at the weekend.
Offers came in from Macquarie-advised PE and Citi-advised Carlyle, while the Asian private equity fund in the race – as earlier flagged by DataRoom – is now known to be Gaw Capital.
Carlyle’s Australia and New Zealand operations are headed by Geoff Hutchinson, the former co-head of Morrison for A/NZ and a former PEP managing director, and the understanding is the US-based firm is eager to do a transaction in the local market.
WSG’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation could increase from $100m to $250m in five years, bidders have been told in the UBS-advised contest.
The business has about 6000 customers across managed services and collections, with brands such as Premier Waste, Superior Waste, Waste Free, Paper Resource, Specialised Services, Argus and APC Waste Consultants.
Carlyle has $US447bn of assets under management.
The retreat by PEP comes after Singapore Post announced on Monday that PEP had purchased its Australian business for $776m, which includes Freight Management Holdings; CouriersPlease; fourth-party logistics and warehousing business EFM, which delivers about six million shipments annually and operates from offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane; and national trucking company Border Express, which delivered more than 30 million parcels in 2022 and has a fleet of more than 700 vehicles.
The businesses offer logistics, warehousing, technology and transportation services.
The sale and purchase agreement, confirmed to the Singapore Exchange on Monday, value’s the group at $1.02bn.
It fought off competition from Blackstone and Brookfield to buy the business.
SingPost’s entire Australian business generates about $120m in annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
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