National Toll Roads has bought a 76.9 per cent controlling interest in Celtic Utilities Limited from entrepreneur Mr John Gallagher.
Current shareholders in Celtic Utilities, ICC Equity Partners Limited, will keep the balance of the equity. The offer comprises 943,767 NTR ordinary shares, a convertible/redeemable loan note with a par value of euro 38.4 million and £1 million in cash.
On completion of the deal, Celtic Utilities chairman Mr Gallagher will join the board of NTR as a non-executive director, and the offer for the share capital of Celtic Utilities will be put to an extraordinary general meeting of NTR in August.
"This is a significant step forward for NTR and continues the substantial transformation of the company into a broad-based developer and operator of infrastructure in Ireland," said NTR chief executive Mr Jim Derry today.
"On completing this transaction, NTR will hold leading position in the roads, waste-management, energy and water/wastewater sectors in Ireland."
NTR has become a major provider of broad-based infrastructure solutions in Ireland and, over the past few years, has expanded into waste management with Celtic Utilities (Celtic Waste) and energy with Future Wind Partners (eirtricity).
The company also created the consortium Celtic Roads Group, which will compete for the new road PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) announced by the National Roads Authority.
Celtic Utilities also owns 50 per cent of Celtic Anglican Water, a joint venture with AWG (formerly Anglian Water), which operates and develops water and wastewater infrastructure.