Greenstar Chief Executive confirmed as new CEO of Biffa

18 AUGUST 2010

When Biffa bought UK Waste in 2000, its previous MD had been one Ian Wakelin. It is therefore ironic that the private equity consortium that now owns Biffa and which appears to have struggled to maintain Biffa's pre-acquisition growth, have appointed Mr Wakelin as the new Chief Executive of Biffa following their acquisition of Greenstar.

As the Chief Executive of Greenstar, Ian has guided the company through impressive growth following the acquisition of Ian's original company, Materials Recovery Ltd in 2003 by Irish based Greenstar. Greenstar have been at the forefront of super-MRF development in the UK and a vociferous proponent of mixed recyclable collections, often entering into lively debate with the Campaign for Real Recycling. Biffa, on the other hand, has, since its acquisition in early 2008 by the private equity consortium of GIP (who recently bought Gatwick Airport) and Montagu, been extremely quiet on the publicity front. With the departure of Peter Jones from Biffa, their public profile virtually went underground and  there has been much speculation as to how they have fared in the economic downturn. Having paid a hefty price for them at the height of the market, the recent sudden departure of their GIP-inserted CEO, Andre Horbach, led to widespread speculation as to whether the company was meeting its owner's expectations.

The GIP-implemented changes to Biffa saw a change in direction from being primarily a collection and landfill company to an energy business. With Ian at the helm, with his extensive history and experience in the more traditional areas of waste management, it will be interesting to see if there is a re-focus. Greenstar prides itself on delivering on customer needs and has taken a number of major customers off Biffa who have been looking for something different to meet the challenges of waste minimisation. The recent award of the contract to Greenstar by Monteray for all BT's waste has been one such example and no doubt Monteray will be pleased to see the prospect of continuity in philosophy through Ian.

There is expected to be an announcement in the next few weeks of a re-structuring of Biffa's senior management.