The Netherland's competition authority has decided to block the acquisition of Amsterdam's waste management company Afval- en Energiebedrijf (AEB) by its competitor company Afvalverwerking Rijnmond (AVR). The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) said that if the acquisition had been permitted to go through "too powerful a company would have emerged." In the course of its detailed review of the planned sale, the competition authority determined that a merger would have led to higher prices for the processing of household waste and low-level hazardous waste.
AEB is fully owned by the City of Amsterdam, which decided part ways with its waste management company after AEB's waste-to-energy (wte) facility had to be taken offline for several months in 2019 to allow for emergency repairs. The terms of sale including a purchase price of €450m were agreed with AVR in December 2021 and the transaction was notified to the competition authority the following month. ACM decided early last year that a more detailed investigation would be required....
