Businessman Bill McCabe has realised $10 million (€7.76 million) from the sale of a minority stake in his waste-to-energy business Bedminster International to the US investment bank Goldman Sachs. Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent, reports.
The Goldman investment values Bedminster at $100 million. According to industry sources, the investment was made in return for 10 per cent of the Bedminster business.
Best known as the founder of the SmartForce e-learning group, Mr McCabe holds a controlling interest in Bedminster through his private investment vehicle Oyster Capital.
A Bedminster statement yesterday strongly implied that Goldman will increase its stake in the company when it said the investment bank had made an "initial equity investment".
The company has patented technology to use a biological process to convert organic material into a high-quality fossil fuel substitute for use in the production of renewable energy. It targets the municipal waste market with this technology and sells the product as a scalable alternative to landfill in the treatment of waste. "Stringent EU legislation now requires biodegradable waste to be diverted from landfill, making it a major environmental issue for municipalities," said the company.
Mr McCabe said yesterday that the Goldman Sachs investment will facilitate the expansion of the company's interests in the global markets. Bedminster is in negotiations at present for a number of "significant" municipal contracts in Europe and North America, he said. Two of the European contracts are in Ireland.
According to Mr McCabe, the bulk of typical municipal waste throughout the world is biodegradable. The company's technology extracts the biodegradable fraction from waste streams and converts it into biofuel.
"Bedminster International offers a unique solution to two ever-increasing global issues - waste treatment and energy generation. Our technology is an environmentally-friendly solution to the waste problem and, in addition, an opportunity to produce fossil-free renewable energy," he said.
Goldman Sachs managing director Pierre-Henri Flamand said the bank anticipated "significant growth" in the sector. "As interest in identifying effective solutions to environmental issues increases, we are delighted to be an investor in Bedminster International and support its global initiatives."
