Li continues southern expansion

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing buys New Zealand waste company.

His acquisition of EnviroWaste Services Ltd., New Zealand's second biggest waste disposal company, for US$412 million is the latest overseas acquisition for Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd., controlled by Li.

He paid cash to buy EnviroWaste from Australian private equity firm Ironbridge Capital. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.

Cheung Kong Infrastructure last year bought a renewable power transmission network in Australia and was part of a group that bought a gas company in Britain. It also owns utility businesses in New Zealand and Canada and highways and bridges in mainland China.

EnviroWaste serves about half a million residential and business customers across New Zealand. It owns garbage collection and recycling depots, landfills, transfer stations and electricity generating stations that convert methane gas from waste dumps.

“Waste management provides good opportunity for future growth,” Group Managing Director Kam Hing-lam said. “It is expected that New Zealand will experience long-term waste volume growth as the economy continues to expand.”

Cheung Kong Infrastructure is one of several Hong Kong companies controlled by Li, whose fortune is estimated at US$30 billion.