The UK-based recycling and waste management company Viridor today announced a formal offer to acquire all of Norway-based Quantafuel’s outstanding shares for NOK 1.058million, or NOK 6.38 per share.
The offer follows from a strategic review announced by Quantafuel in October 2022, undertaken by the company ‘to assess the best options for the next stage of growth’, said Ann-Christin Andersen, chair of the board of Quantafuel. This included searching for potential strategic or financial partners in order to secure a short and long-term financing solution for the company. According to Quantafuel’s operational and financial update published today, the company is curently facing a short-term liquidity shortfall. To continue operations, it needed to secure additional funds before mid Q2 2023.
The present offer from Viridor is unanimously recommended by Quantafuel’s Board of Directors and management group unanimously supports and has agreed to recommend the offer. An offer document setting out the terms of the offer will be made available for shareholders by Viridor prior to the start of the offer period.
Viridor is one of the UK's leading resource recovery and waste management companies. It operates the largest fleet of Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facilities and the largest multi-line polymers reprocessing plant in the UK.
Quantafuel has developed Plastic-to-Liquid technology based on pyrolysis that includes a two-stage catalytic process in the gas phase. The process utilises proprietary catalysts to increase the quality of the hydrocarbons, after which the gas is condensed and separated into different oil fractions, the largest of which is destined for new plastics production. Viridor intends to build on the platform created by Quantafuel and further promote the commercialisation of its technology, in line with the UK company’s ambition to lead innovation in the plastics recycling sector and achieve complete plastic circularity by 2025.
“Today marks a critical step on Viridor’s growth journey to build a truly circular plastics economy. Advanced recycling processes like Quantafuel’s are essential to ensure those plastics can be recycled again and again,” said Kevin Bradshaw, Viridor’s CEO. “Our proposed acquisition and investment represents the strong commitment both businesses have to ensuring we deliver a better environment.”