The IPO will include offer for sale by its private equity investor Elliott Management Corp, the world’s largest activist hedge fund, which had first invested in the company almost a decade ago. A small part of the issue — around Rs 43 crore — would be a fresh issue, proceeds from which will be used to pare debt.
“India generates around 55 million tonnes of waste annually; we understand only 25 per cent of it is processed scientifically; the government wants to increase this to 100 per cent. In the next 10-15 years, this target is achievable, which is a big opportunity for us,” Jose Jacob, managing director of Antony Waste Handling Cell, told ET.
The Thane-headquartered Antony Waste Handling Cell primarily has two business lines — collection and transport of solid waste for municipal corporations and waste management, which includes municipal solid waste-based waste-to-energy projects.
In Mumbai, the company is responsible for processing 5,000 tonnes per day of solid waste, which is half of the total generated by the city. Of this, it processes around 4,000 tonnes a day of waste using bioreactor technology that accelerates the decomposition of organic wastes in a landfill; while 1,000 tonnes are processed using anaerobic digestion. Besides this, the company is handling 2,500 tonnes of solid waste for collection and transport.
“Municipal solid waste management is top priority in most states and a lot of municipal corporations are aggressively tendering jobs. We are selective and bid for tenders in municipal corporations which are financially healthy; we do our proper due diligence,” Jacob said.
According to a Frost & Sullivan report, municipal solid waste generation is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5 per cent during FY18-23 to 70 million tonnes per annum from 55 million tonnes now in India. The market for solid waste management is pegged at Rs 6,200 crore by 2023, as against Rs 3,000 crore now.
Antony Waste Handling is among the top five companies active in this space. The company has 14 ongoing projects and has bagged four more recently, which includes Pimpri Chinchwad Project.
