Quercus are delighted to announce the sale of Camo Limited which trades under the Simply Waste brand to Biffa plc for an upfront debt and cash free consideration of £35m.

Potential further consideration of up to £5m may become payable, depending on future performance. Quercus was the sole corporate finance adviser to Simply Waste on the sale and the team was led by Mark Whelan and Neil Giles.

Headquartered in High Wycombe, Simply Waste is the leading provider of recycling and waste management services in London and the South East of England. Founded in 2006 by James and Natalie Capel the business has a major operational footprint with its main site located close to Heathrow Airport providing unparalleled access to the buoyant London market, as well as the Home Counties and has regional depots spanning the South of England.

Quercus has been working closely with James and Natalie since 2019 to help formulate an exit strategy including preparing the business for sale.  We marketed Simply Waste to a select audience and advised on all aspects of the transaction from deal strategy and preparation through to marketing and finally negotiation of pricing and deal structure. A key part of our role was dealing with the challenges presented by Covid-19 and ensuring that the transaction remained on track during Lockdown.

Mark Whelan commented:

“We are delighted to have successfully helped James and Natalie to sell the business they originally founded some 14 years ago. There is a strong fit between the two businesses and Simply Waste is complementary to Biffa’s existing footprint across the south of England.  More broadly this is an important transaction following the difficulties of lockdown and demonstrates the potential for M&A in the rapidly consolidating waste sector.”

James Capel, Simply Waste Solutions founder added:

“We are pleased to have benefited from the wise counsel and waste sector expertise of the Quercus team. They 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.”