Beijing Capital Group sees the purchase of Transpacific's New Zealand waste management business as a strategic long-term investment, the company's adviser says.
Transpacific Industries is to sell the previously listed Waste Management business to Beijing Capital Group for $950 million.
Bejing Capital is a long-standing member of China's Top 500 Enterprises with specialist expertise in water treatment, waste management, mass transit railways and toll roads. It has more than $US21 billion in assets, and its sales last year were $US3.7 billion.
Its purchase of the Waste Management operations is its first investment outside of China and Hong Kong.
Beijing Capital Group adviser Graham Mulligan said it was a strategic investment for his client.
"Beijing Capital is a significant player in China and it has a number of investments in the waste management and environmental management areas," he said.
"It sees the acquisition of (Transpacific) as a strategic, long-term investment for them, where there will be transfer of technology from the expertise that (Transpacific) has into China, and vice versa."
Current Transpacific management had previously provided advice on landfill development to Beijing and Shanghai, Mr Mulligan said.
Transpacific bought the rubbish collector in 2006 in a $880 million buyout.
Chief executive Robert Boucher said the Beijing Capital sale would allow his company to pay down debt. It also gave it increased flexibility and mean it would be able to consider paying dividends again.
New Zealand operations managing director Tom Nickels will continue in his role under the new ownership. He has held the role for the past six years.
"I'm very pleased to say that the new owners have been very impressed with the New Zealand management team and they've confirmed that they are not planning any changes," Mr Nickels said.
"In fact, the strength and quality of the New Zealand management team was a big factor in their decision to pursue this acquisition."
Transpacific opted for what was essentially a trade sale, rather than a float process, because the level of interest in the business was sufficient that a trade sale was quicker and gave a greater certainty of outcome, Mr Nickels said.
The company expected the sale would be completed by the end of June, subject to the consent of the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office and Chinese regulators.
Operating earnings in the 12 months to June last year for the New Zealand business was $107 million, which was expected to rise to $110 million in the current year.
