Milbank Advises on US$140 Million Waste Management, Inc. Strategic Investment into Shanghai Environment Group Joint Venture
HONG KONG, 11 August, 2009 – Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP has advised Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) and its waste-to-energy subsidiary Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. on their US$140 million strategic M&A investment into China’s waste management sector. WMI, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. The deal is understood to be the single largest foreign investment in China’s solid waste management sector to date.
The transaction saw NYSE-listed WMI reach an agreement to purchase 40% of Shanghai Environment Group (SEG) from Shanghai-listed Shanghai Chengtou Holding Co., Ltd. and the formation of the joint venture. SEG is the leading solid waste management company in China, with 12 solid waste projects in Shanghai, Chengdu, Ningbo, Nanjing, Qingdao and other Chinese cities. SEG plans to pursue other waste-to-energy opportunities and offer other waste services throughout China. The transaction documents were signed on 4 August in Shanghai and the transaction is expected to complete later this year after obtaining approval from the PRC Ministry of Commerce.
“This was our client’s first investment in China and involved extensive due diligence over the target’s existing and pending concession arrangements and potential environmental and other liabilities,” said Anthony Root, head of Milbank’s China practice and Asia corporate practice, who led on the deal with the support of Weiheng Chen, Asian Counsel. “We guided our client through the entire deal process and also led the negotiation process.”
Other Milbank lawyers working on the deal include associates Sarah Tian and Cecilia Ma in Hong Kong and Beijing. Macquarie Capital acted as the financial advisor to WMI, and King and Wood served as the PRC counsel to WMI.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a leading global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex and innovative transactions. Our transactional expertise includes Acquisition Finance, Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Project Finance and other major fields of law practice. Headquartered in New York, Milbank has 10 offices worldwide, including Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.