Enterprise Investors to consolidate the polish industrial waste processing industry

The investment opportunity has emerged as a result of legislative changes, which have brought Polish environmental legislation in line with EU rules.

“Poland’s industrial waste management market is just beginning to consolidate, but it is still very fragmented and not yet dominated by the big multinationals. It is relatively underdeveloped. Many small family businesses offer a very narrow range of services, while clients expect a full waste management service,” said Michał Rusiecki, a partner at Enterprise Investors.

Poland generates around 1.5 million tons of industrial waste annually, but the market currently accessible for waste management companies is estimated at only about 150,000 tons, worth around PLN 180 million ($43 million). The remaining part of the market covers waste that is not processed or properly disposed of. New legislation is likely to drive strong growth in the Polish waste processing market.

Polska Grupa Gospodarki Odpadami SA, based in Łódź (central Poland), will be operating throughout the country and will focus on providing industrial customers with a complete solution to all their waste management problems. On the waste disposal side, the company will convert a significant proportion of waste into alternative fuels – an economically and environmentally friendly method. The company will follow European and Polish waste management guidelines, which call for the minimization of land filling as a waste disposal method. On the business side the company is to grow both organically and through acquisition of medium-sized industrial waste management companies that have strong customer portfolios.

Enterprise Investors is the leading venture capital group in Poland has been active in Poland and the CEE region since 1990. The four funds managed by Enterprise Investors – Polish Enterprise Fund IV, the Polish Enterprise Fund, Polish Private Equity Funds I & II and the Polish–American Enterprise Fund – have invested $680 million in 85 companies across all economic sectors in Poland, Romania and Slovakia.