Platinum Equity completes $6.6bn sale of Urbaser to Blackstone and EQT

December 2026 | DEALFRONT | PRIVATE EQUITY & VENTURE CAPITAL

Financier Worldwide Magazine

December 2026 Issue

In late September, Platinum Equity announced the completion of the sale of Urbaser to private equity firms Blackstone and EQT. The transaction, which was first announced in February 2026, was valued at approximately $6.6bn.

Under the terms of the agreement, EQT and Blackstone will each hold a 50 percent stake in Urbaser and jointly oversee the company’s future development.

According to a statement confirming completion of the deal, Urbaser will continue delivering leading environmental management solutions for customers under its new ownership while pursuing further growth in Spain and across its international operations.

Fernando Abril-Martorell, who has served as chief executive of Urbaser for the past four years, will move into the role of non-executive chairman. Effective from 1 January 2027, Carlos Albi, currently chief operating officer, will become chief executive. Mr Albi has joined Mr Abril-Martorell on Urbaser’s board of directors alongside Adam Kuhnley and Scott Schultz of Blackstone, and Matthias Fackler and Guillermo García-Barrero of EQT.

Joining the board as independent directors are Claudio Boada and Ruud Sondag. Mr Boada currently serves on the boards of several Spanish infrastructure and real estate companies, including Abertis Infraestructuras, and previously held leadership roles at Lehman Brothers Iberia and the Círculo de Empresarios. Mr Sondag is the former chief executive of Van Gansewinkel Groep, Eneco and Royal Schiphol Group.

Urbaser is a global environmental infrastructure platform specialising in the collection, management and treatment of municipal and industrial waste. The company serves more than 60 million people worldwide and operates through a workforce of more than 38,000 employees. Headquartered in Madrid, its activities span three core segments: urban services, including waste collection, street cleaning and water management, municipal waste treatment and industrial waste treatment.

The company was acquired by Platinum Equity in October 2021 from China Tianying Inc. in a deal with an enterprise value of approximately $4.2bn. As part of the latest transaction, Platinum Equity retained Urbaser’s waste management business in Argentina, which has operated in the country for three decades and generated approximately $90m of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in 2025.

During Platinum Equity’s ownership, Urbaser invested €1.6bn in capital expenditure and mergers and acquisitions over five years, completing 20 add-on acquisitions and divesting 13 non-core divisions and assets. The company also delivered significant operational growth, with revenue and earnings rising strongly while its contracted backlog expanded substantially.

The sale followed a refinancing of Urbaser’s capital structure in 2025 that incorporated a portability feature for senior debt and a cross-border payment-in-kind holdco structure.

“Urbaser today is a fundamentally different business than the one we acquired nearly five years ago,” said Louis Samson, co-president of Platinum Equity. “We assembled a deep and talented management team then worked together to invest in the platform, sharpen the company’s strategic focus, expand its capabilities and strengthen its position in attractive environmental infrastructure markets. We’re grateful to the Urbaser team for their partnership and proud of everything we accomplished together.”

“This was a highly ambitious transformation that touched nearly every part of the organization,” said Igor Chacartegui, managing director at Platinum Equity. “We executed a significant investment program, completed numerous acquisitions and divestitures, and repositioned the portfolio toward sectors with stronger growth characteristics and long-term contracted revenues. We believe the company is more focused and more resilient today with substantial momentum heading into its next chapter.”

Platinum Equity’s European portfolio currently includes a dozen companies across the UK, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Spain, including recent acquisitions such as Solo Group, XD Connects and Sunrise Medical.

The deal highlights strong investor confidence in environmental infrastructure and Urbaser’s growth prospects.

Richard Summerfield