Blackstone and EQT to acquire Urbaser for €5.8B: advisors

The US private equity firm Platinum Equity has agreed the sale of the Spanish environmental services giant Urbaser to Blackstone and EQT for €5.8 billion. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Linklaters, Kirkland & Ellis and Uría Menéndez acted as legal advisors to Blackstone and EQT. Cuatrecasas and Latham & Watkins LLP advised Platinum Equity.

Following the transaction, Blackstone and EQT will each own a 50% stake in Urbaser and will jointly manage the company. Founded more than three decades ago, Urbaser is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services solutions, focused on maximising recycling and resource generation through long-term contracts with municipalities and industrial clients.

Platinum Equity, which has worked in recent years to strengthen Urbaser’s business and unlock its full potential, is a global firm specialising in mergers and acquisitions and corporate transactions involving companies in the technology, communications, manufacturing, healthcare and other services sectors. With a portfolio of fifty companies across different sectors and geographies and offices in more than twenty countries, it operates as a private equity firm, providing financing and other resources to the companies it acquires.

On the Linklaters side, the team was led by M&A partner Esteban Arza, together with counsel Elena Rodriguez and managing associate Jaime Peláez. Public law matters were led by partner José Giménez, alongside managing associate Sergio Garcia and associate Gonzalo Sanz, while tax partner Alejandro Meca oversaw the tax aspects with managing associate Álvaro Albiñana.

On the Uría side, the team involved comprised Blanca Arlabán Gabeiras (partner, M&A–private equity, finance & restructuring, London); Manuel Echenique Sanjurjo (partner, M&A–private equity, Madrid); José Alberto Navarro (partner, public and environment, Barcelona); David López Velázquez (partner, digital and FDI, Madrid); Manuel Delgado Vílchez (managing associate, M&A private equity); Sara Gómez Martín (senior associate, M&A private equity); and Javier Toro Torcal (senior associate, M&A private equity).

Latham & Watkins represented Platinum Equity in the transaction with a corporate team led by Madrid partner Ignacio Pallarés, with counsels Luis Manuel Lozano and Carmen Esteban, and associates Marino Aineto and Pablo Campanillas. Advice was also provided on tax matters by Madrid partners Jordi Domínguez and Iván Rabanillo, with associate Juan Rodríguez; on capital markets matters by London partners Brett Cassidy and Matthew Schneider, with associate Alexander Kartyshev; on derivatives matters by London counsel Delyth Hughes; on regulatory matters by Madrid partner José María Alonso; on finance matters by London partners Hendrik Smit and Julie Van der Meersche, with Madrid associate Claudia González; on employment matters by Madrid partner Naiara Rodríguez-Escudero; and on antitrust matters by Madrid partner José María Jiménez-Laiglesia.

The Cuatrecasas team advising on the transaction was made up of corporate partners Javier Martí-Fluxá and José Luis Rodríguez, as well as lawyers Sora Park, Guido Samir Adlaoui, Ricardo Ramírez-Montesinos and Carmen Baamonde.

Pictured above, from left to right, Esteban Arza, José Giménez, Alejandro Meca, Javier Martí-Fluxá and José Luis Rodríguez.

Pictured below, Blanca Arlabán Gabeiras and Manuel Echenique Sanjurjo.