Republic Rejects Second Waste Management Offer

Republic Services, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has rejected the most recent all-cash buyout offer from Houston-based Waste Management. According to Republic, the $37 per share offer made on Monday, an increase from the original, unsolicited offer of $34 per share, “continues to undervalue Republic Services and fails to satisfactorily address the issues identified by the board in its response to Waste Management’s first proposal.”

Republic also reaffirmed its ongoing merger with Phoenix-based Allied Waste. According to a letter to David Steiner, CEO of Waste Management, from Republic’s board of directors, Republic believes the Allied merger creates greater value-generating opportunities and cost-saving synergies. “Our shareholders have expressed to us, privately and publicly, their appreciation of the potential value of the Republic-Allied Waste merger,” according to the letter. “Based upon our contacts with shareholders, our board believes that Republic shareholders would not want that potential value sold on the cheap.”

Waste Management has released a statement regarding its disappointment from the latest rejection. “We continue to believe that our revised proposal would provide superior value to Republic stockholders and, with Republic's cooperation, would be executable on a timely basis,” according to a press release.