REMONDIS expands its Hungarian operations

Lünen/Budapest. REMONDIS AG & Co. KG is expanding its activities in Hungary: by taking over the Hungarian disposal and recycling activities of the OTTO Group, REMONDIS has now become the third largest environmental service business in the country. The contracts were signed last week and the takeover is effective from 1 January 2007. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

The German OTTO Group has been in Hungary since 1994 providing services to municipalities, private households and industrial organizations. It has four locations in western Hungary, namely in Vac, Oroszlany, Tapolca and Sümeg. The Hungarian parent company, OTTO Magyarorszag Kft., is situated in Budapest. The business has around 220 employees. Its services range from disposing of household and commercial waste, collecting recyclable waste, operating landfills, cleaning streets, maintaining green areas and providing winter services. The activities of the OTTO Group complement REMONDIS’ range of services perfectly, especially in the western regions of Hungary. As a result of this merger, REMONDIS has become a service provider for more than 500,000 people in Hungary - this makes almost every 20th Hungarian a REMONDIS customer.

Szabolcs Deres, Managing Director of REMONDIS Hungary commented, “The amalgamation of the activities gives us the opportunity to bundle together our recycling volumes and so develop a system that is even more economical. Our market position in western Hungary has been particularly strengthened by this takeover.”

In recent years, the Hungarian waste industry has developed more and more towards full cycle waste management, in which raw materials from waste are recovered and natural resources are preserved. In recent months, REMONDIS has been increasingly active in the Hungarian market and started operating modern full cycle waste management centres in, among others, Kepto, Tiszafüred, Dabas, Kunszentmarton and Gyomaendroed - including new landfills with rain and leachate drainage and leachate basins that fulfil the standards stipulated in EU Directives.

With its 18,600 employees, REMONDIS is one of the world’s largest privately run water and environmental service companies providing services to more than 20 million people.

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