Dive Summary:

• A group lead by a division of New Jersey based Chinook Sciences has placed a £520m cash offer to buy Biffa, the U.K.'s second largest waste management company
• Also included in the consortium is US bank, JP Morgan and Clearbrook Capital - a private equity investor.  
• The group plans to focus on implementing a renewable energy plan that focuses on waste-to-energy projects.
• Biffa, which was purchased by private equity investors for £1.2 billion in 2008, is under immense pressure to pay off nearly £1.1 billion in loans.  
• The current offer is the only official one on the table for Biffa, however, other distressed asset firms are believed to be looking at the company.  

From the article:

A consortium has made a £520m cash offer for Biffa, the debt-laden waste management group that has contracts with numerous local councils.

The Guardian understands that the group's private equity owners have received a bid from a consortium of Chinook Urban Mining, the London-based recycling specialist, private equity investor Clearbrook Capital and US bank JP Morgan.

Biffa is under pressure to pay back £1.1bn of loans and has contracts with local authorities including Portsmouth city council, East Hampshire district and Winchester city council, and the Isle of Anglesey county council.

The offer was submitted last week to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the advisers to the 76 banks and financial institutions that lent funds to Biffa's current owners, Montagu Private Equity and Global Infrastructure Partners. The fate of Britain's second largest waste management group once again raises the role of private equity funds acquiring assets by buying the loans of troubled companies at a discount and burdening them with debt. Other distressed debt funds are also understood to be circling Biffa, but are not yet thought to have submitted a bid.