Construction and council services company May Gurney has bought ECT Recycling from the ECT Group, which runs Ealing Community Transport.
May Gurney paid £3.4m for ECT Recycling, but the deal is worth £15.3m to the new owner because it will take over almost £11.9m in debt and hire purchase liabilities.
ECT Recycling, which has waste contracts in London, Somerset and elsewhere worth £175m, is a community interest company limited by shareholding. Because of the nature of the company, it can return only 35 per cent of its profits to shareholders and must reinvest 65 per cent in its operations.
ECT Recycling is one of the first community interest companies to be bought by a commercial company, and the CIC regulator said it would be monitoring the deal to ensure the owner observed its responsibilities.
