Waste Management unit confirms Essent auction exit

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Waste Management Inc WMI.N unit Wheelabrator Technologies confirmed on Friday its consortium had dropped out of the auction for Dutch waste manager Essent Milieu, citing differences with the seller over price.

On Thursday sources familiar with the matter told Reuters Wheelabrator, which had been working with Deutsche Bank's RREEF, had quit the auction, as had BC Partners [BCPRT.UL], the British private equity firm. [ID:nLU634390]

Essent Milieu is being sold by Essent, the unlisted Dutch utility. Earlier this year banking sources said Essent hoped to sell the unit for more than 1 billion euros ($1.33 billion).

However, Waste Management, the largest U.S. trash hauler, said it had told Essent a few weeks ago it was withdrawing from the bidding.

"That was a difficult decision because Essent Milieu is such a high quality organization. But based on our analysis of the proposed sale including the publicly stated price threshold, we determined the expectations could not be aligned in a mutually beneficial manner."

"Nonetheless, Wheelabrator Technologies remains very committed to working and growing its business in the Netherlands, the UK and throughout Europe," a Waste Management spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Banking sources have previously told Reuters Loan Pricing Corp. that French private equity firm PAI, U.S. waste firm Covanta (CVA.N) and the "Orange" consortium, which includes infrastructure funds linked to NIBC and Fortis, were involved in the auction.

Essent has also agreed to sell its much larger production and delivery arm to Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE) -- but some doubt was cast over the deal last week when the parliament of the province that is Essent's biggest shareholder voted against the plans. [ID:nLR448179] (Reporting by Quentin Webb in London and Helen Chernikoff in New York; Editing by David Cowell)