By Isabella Steger
A consortium of Li Ka-shing's companies has bought a waste
management company in the Netherlands, as the Hong Kong billionaire
continues to acquire infrastructure and utility assets in developed
markets.
In a statement Monday, Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd.
(1038.HK) said it and a group of companies including Cheung Kong
(Holdings) Ltd. (0001.HK), Power Assets Holdings Ltd. (0006.HK) and
the Li Ka Shing Foundation Ltd., bought Dutch company AVR
Afvalverwerking B.V., the country's largest energy-from-waste
company, for an enterprise value of around HK$9.7 billion ($1.2
billion).
CKI and Cheung Kong both have a 35% stake in the investment,
while Power Assets and the Li Ka Shing Foundation have 20% and 10%,
respectively.
The deal comes after CKI bought New Zealand waste management
business EnviroWaste for NZ$501 million in January from a
private-equity firm, giving CKI ownership of landfill sites,
recycling depots and technology that captures methane gas for power
generation in the country.
It also marks the latest in a string of deals struck by Mr. Li
in developed markets, from gas and water assets in the U.K. to
telecommunications companies in continental Europe. His
conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (0013.HK) said in March at its
full-year results that its Europe business gave a big boost to its
underlying profit, or earnings before interest and taxes, which
rose 19% from the previous year. Mr. Li said Europe made up 34% of
Hutchison Whampoa's Ebit, compared with 29% a year earlier.
Write to Isabella Steger at isabella.steger@wsj.com
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