Liquidator and receiver appointed to take control of A1 Waste group

A LIQUIDATOR and receiver this week took control of A1 Waste group, one of the biggest operators in its sector in the Leinster region.

Pádraig Monaghan of KPMG has been appointed receiver to Dean Waste, which holds about 90 per cent of the group’s assets.

Yesterday, a creditors meeting appointed Tom Kavanagh of corporate rescue specialists Kavanagh Fennell as liquidator to Neiphin Trading, a smaller entity which holds the group’s waste management licences.

A further creditors meeting called by Jenzsoph, which owns the group’s landfill site near Naas in Co Kildare, was adjourned pending the outcome of the receivership and liquidations of the other businesses.

A1 was controlled by businessman Tony Dean, and was one of the bigger players in the waste sector.

The company grew strongly during the building boom as a significant part of its business came from dealing with construction waste.

The most recently available accounts for Dean Waste show that it made a profit of €9 million in 2007, which coincided with the building boom’s peak.

However, the figures show that this dropped to €98,000 the following year.

Last year, the Circuit Court fined Mr Dean €10,000 after he pleaded guilty to recovering waste without a licence.

A1 Waste had illegally dumped construction waste at a site in Wicklow in 1998.

While Mr Dean pleaded guilty, A1 Waste’s lawyers argued that in 1998 the legislation relating to waste-management licences was not clear and pointed out that a Wicklow local authority was dumping at the same site.

Earlier this year, Neiphin Trading clashed with the Environmental Protection Agency over the licensing of its landfill site in Kerdiffstown near Naas, Co Kildare.

The agency said the company had broken the terms of its permit.

The High Court subsequently ordered Neiphin to stop taking waste at the Kerdiffstown site, pending the outcome of a full hearing.

Mr Dean is known to be a Fianna Fáil supporter and A1 Waste donated cash to the party earlier in the decade.

Sources suggested that it may be possible to sell part of the group’s businesses.