April 3, 2023

By: Matthew Monks

Original Article: EQT-Backed Covanta Agrees to Buy Waste-Management Firm Circon (bloomberg.com)

Covanta, which describes itself as the world’s biggest “waste-to-energy” provider, is expanding its footprint with a deal to buy Circon Holdings Inc.

The transaction, Covanta’s eighth since it was acquired in 2021 by Stockholm-based investment firm EQT AB, branches the company into the Gulf Coast and Midwestern US while doubling its environmental services and waste-management business, according to Chief Executive Officer Azeez Mohammed.

The deal is Covanta’ most-transformative ever, adding more than 600 employees and 2,500 customers and accelerating its strategic goals, Mohammed said in an interview. It also dramatically grows its alternative-fuels business. Financial terms of the deal, announced Monday, weren’t disclosed.

“We are extremely excited about this Circon deal because of the negative-carbon capabilities that it brings to the sustainable material management transformation of Covanta,” he said.

Circon has been on Covanta’s radar for a while now, he added.

“We have known them from the market, we really like their story,” he said. “There was excellent chemistry.”

Covanta, based in Morristown, New Jersey, diverts 21 million tons of waste annually from landfills through combustion and other means, according to its website.

Circon, based in La Porte, Texas, is a portfolio company of Kinderhook Industries. EQT is one of the largest and most active infrastructure investors globally, with a focus on advancing the energy transition.