News: Sterecycle prepares for public listing

Clean technology company, Sterecycle, which has a pioneering waste processing plant in Rotherham, is preparing to launch on the Canadian stock exchange.

A deal is being put in place between Sterecycle and Spara Acquisition One Corporation, a fledgling company trading on Canada's TSX Venture exchange that has no commercial operations and no assets except for cash.

A non-binding letter of intent has been signed between the companies which outlines how Spara Acquisition One would acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Sterecycle in exchange for common shares of Spara Acquisition One.

This would enable Sterecycle to trade on the Canadian exchange and raise funds through the sale of shares.

The company uses a patented steam processing method called autoclaving to "pressure cook" household and commercial black-bag waste. The Rotherham plant is the world's first commercial scale autoclave waste treatment facility and recovers 65 percent of the waste in the form of recyclables and a biomass rich soil like substance called "Sterefibre."

Sterefibre is approved as a soil improver for non-agricultural applications and is being used to grow biofuel crops. It can also be used to generate clean power in biomass-fuelled CHP (combined heat and power) plants and for biogas production in anaerobic digestion plants.

The Templeborough site has been operational since August 2008 and employs 41 local people. It is as a blueprint for a future roll out of waste processing sites around the country.

Sterecycle is backed by blue chip investors including Fidelity International, Impax Asset Management and Aston Hill Financial and recently secured £5.1m of investment to expand waste processing capacity in Rotherham.

A definitive agreement is set to confirm the transaction following due diligence investigations and regulatory approval.

It is currently proposed that Spara Acquisition One would then issue a total of 25,142,857 shares. This values Sterecycle at 88 million Canadian dollars, around £56m.

Sterecycle website

Images: Sterecycle