French recycling specialist Environnement Recycling has been acquired by United B

Paris – CFI France is pleased to announce it acted as the exclusive corporate finance advisor to the shareholders of Environnement Recycling in its sale to United.B

Founded in 2003, Environnement Recycling is France’s leading independent provider of end-of-life management services for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), based in Domérat in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Through its various activities, the Group stands out by its presence across the entire recycling value chain: collection, grouping, sorting, treatment, recycling, recovery, second life and re-use of electrical and electronic equipment’s.

As a pioneer in the recycling of electrical and electronic waste, the Group has been cooperating with the main eco-organisations since the sector was set up in 2006. The Group also distinguished itself by being one of the first players in the sector to obtain WEELabex certification, a label of excellence for WEEE processing, as well as ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certifications in 2014.

The Group’s activities are articulated around an inclusive project anchored in its territory, in particular through its subsidiary Environnement Valorisation Emploi (the leading work integration social enterprise in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region), which supports people in difficulty or actively seeking employment, and its subsidiary Recyclea, which is a disability-friendly company with over 60% disabled employees.

Since 2019, the Group has been one of the first players to invest in research and development in order to meet its production needs and to go beyond the recovery of by-products from the treatment of WEEE to create additional value and integrate new technological links. In addition to in-house projects, the Group leads research consortia bringing together manufacturers, technical centres, public and semi-public organisations as well as research laboratories to develop the treatment of plastics from WEEE.

Founded in 2020, United.b is a holding company bringing together several brands such as Boulanger, Electrodepot, Hifi International, Krëfel, Recommerce, Reconomia and Circular-X, which are present in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Romania and China.

Advised by CFI France, the founders, managers and BPI present in the capital of Environnement Recycling sold their majority stake to United.B. This acquisition is part of United.B’s strategy to integrate recycling, recovery, reconditioning and second life activities into the value chain of electronic and multimedia products. Jérôme Auclair, co-founder, will remain Chief Executive Officer of the Group following this operation.

This transaction closed on 16 January 2023.