Cleanaway, owned by Anglo-Australian firm Brambles International, attracted a number of bids within the past 10 days.

Trade bidders including French firm Veolia Environment, Suez and Spanish company FCC, are all believed to have submitted offers for the business, which operates in southern England and employs 8,000 people.

Coulson's Yeoman International investment group has previously been involved in the waste business. Sterile Techologies, which operated in Ireland and the UK, was sold earlier this year to US-based Stericycle for up to 95m in cash and the assumption of 143m in debt. The sale netted Coulson's investment vehicle, which owned 45% of Sterile Technologies, roughly 43m. The waste company's management team had also attempted to mount a bid for the firm, which handles the disposal of nearly all public hospital waste generated in Ireland, as well as a substantial proportion of that generated by British NHS hospitals.