Price freeze urged as part of Panda-Greenstar deal

The Consumer Association of Ireland has called on Panda Waste to commit to a five-year price freeze for its bin customers if its proposed partial takeover of rival Greenstar is approved by the competition regulator.

Panda yesterday said it had reached agreement to buy the residential and commercial collections, transfer, and processing businesses of rival waste management and recycling operator, Greenstar, for an undisclosed sum, confirming a deal which has been speculated upon for months.

Both parties hope to conclude the deal within three-to-six months and the transaction has been passed to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for perusal.

Greenstar was bought out of receivership two years ago by US private investment firm Cerberus.

Between them, Greenstar and Panda employ nearly 1,400 people, have 30,000 business customers and serve more than 200,000 residential customers.

Some councillors have already expressed fears other players may scale down operations and the lack of competition could push up prices.

Consumer Association vice-chairman Michael Kilcoyne said he fears the merger will lead to a lack of competition in the waste management market and Panda should offer assurances of no price hikes for at least five years.

“Any merger eliminates some competition and when there’s a lack of competition and a lack of choice for customers, prices tend to go up,” he said.

In response to that, a spokesperson for Panda said it “will continue to offer one of the most competitively priced services in the country”.

Panda chief executive Brian McCabe said that the enlarged entity will be better placed to offer a “better, faster and more competitive” suite of services to customers.

Mr Kilcoyne suggested that if this is the case, an effective price freeze should be part of the deal agreement.

“The joining of Panda and Greenstar will create a leading Irish owned and managed municipal and commercial waste collection, processing and recycling business in the country,” said Mr McCabe said.

Greenstar CEO Mark Burrows-Smith added that the consolidation of the waste management industry in Ireland “has long been viewed as necessary”.