The concept of the Circular Economy is to try to eliminate or minimise waste at all stages of the lifecycle of a product, thus creating a more sustainable, environmentally conscious alternative to the traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose). Whilst the awareness of the benefits of the Circular Economy continues to increase on the back of well publicised issues such as that of plastic pollution and climate change, the rate and scale of changes is heavily influenced by the broader economic and political environment.
The waste and recycling industry has been key in the development of the circular economy, driving change by offering sustainable alternatives to traditional landfill such as Energy from Waste and Anaerobic Digestion plants, together with improved segregation of waste streams either at source or through specialist processing facilities.
That said, the marriage between the industry and Government is not always a happy one with changes in previously announced policies (e.g. DRS, Simpler Recycling) making it difficult for waste companies to plan and focus their investment, adversely impacting recycling rates.
From an M&A perspective, the sector has seen massive change in the past five years with significant investment from financial investors. Waste is viewed as an essential service, so it was a natural progression to bring such investments into portfolio alongside water and power assets. Recently, the nature of these investments has evolved from infrastructure type investments (e.g. EfW and AD) to operating companies and has seen the likes of Biffa, Augean and Suez acquired by Infrastructure funds, and this is a trend we expect to continue.
We leverage our expertise, experience and international reach to create lasting value. Our mission is to provide outstanding service to our clients in the M&A arena:
“We are delighted to have benefited from Quercus’ counsel throughout the acquisition process, their combination of in-depth waste sector knowledge and corporate transaction management facilitated a smooth acquisition process, allowing our management team to focus on the strategic and operational steps to successfully integrate Reef into the BPR family.”
Managing Director
“We are pleased to have benefited from the wise counsel and waste sector expertise of the Quercus team. Mark and Neil are highly experienced relationship-driven advisers and the quality of the advice and service we received was exceptional. It has not been easy to transact given the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 but Quercus really delivered for the shareholders and we are delighted with the outcome.”
Founder
“When I made the decision to sell SWRnewstar, I was keen to have a very targeted marketing process focused on those organisations who would provide real strategic benefit to SWRnewstar. I chose Quercus because of their sector knowledge and the strength and depth of their relationships with key individuals at the potential buyers”
Chairman and founder
“I am delighted with the assistance that Quercus provided to our team in developing our strategy and in helping us to focus on value enhancing opportunities as well as for their support throughout the acquisition of AWS. Their sector knowledge, experience and transaction management skills made a real difference to us in this process. We are extremely pleased to welcome AWS into our group and look forward to continuing to pursue our growth strategy in the UK.”
CEO
"We are pleased with the outcome which Mark and the Quercus team have achieved, which meets our strategic goals while providing a solid future for the Waste Solutions business and its employees as part of the Collard Group.”
CEO
“I am very grateful to Quercus for their support through the acquisition process – their sector knowledge, experience and insights made a real difference. We are extremely pleased to welcome Alpha into the group and look forward to continuing to expand our offering across the South West”
CEO
THE QUERCUS APPROACH
