2005 - 2006 - Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2012

FRANCE PART 3 (i): COMPANY ANALYSIS: MAJOR PLAYERS
Poland
2001 TGMS 25 year concession 70,000 water & sewerage
The contract to operate the Tarnowskie Gory and Miasteczko Slaskie water company was gained in
December 2001. The company manages the municipal water and wastewater services for 70,000
people in the two towns. VE’s initial 33.85% stake will increase to 63.5% by 2003. The contract will
generate total revenues of €125 million.
Romania
2000 Ploiesti 15 year concession 250,000 water
The concession was awarded to Apa Nova SRL (80% held by VE, 20% by the municipality) in April
2000. €26 million will be spent on network upgrading and renewal. The contract’s turnover is €8
million per annum.
2000 Bucharest 25 year concession 2 million water
The concession to modernise Bucharest's water supply was granted in April 2000. The annual
investment quota for the project is €42 million for the first five years of the concession out of an
expected total of €1.05 billion. Annual revenues will be €80 million per annum.
The Russian Federation
2005 St Petersburg 5 year management 2 million water
Veolia Water’s SPEP (Société Eau Ppure, 51% GDE, 48% Vodokanal & 1% St Petersburg
municipality) gained a five year management contract for the city’s left bank water treatment works.
This facility handles 1.2 million m³ of water per day.
United Kingdom
In April 2002, Veolia Water UK signed an agreement to acquire First Aqua, the holding company of
Southern Water. After the bid was blocked by the UK Government, a hybrid solution was engineered.
First Aqua was acquired by Southern Water Investments: in turn, Southern Water Capital (49% held
by Royal Bank of Scotland and 51% by institutional investors) holds 75% of Southern Water
Investments, with VE holding the other 25%. For VE, the £160 million investment (plus £110 million in
Preference Shares, exercisable from 2008), is some way below its original £374 million investment.
See company entry for First Aqua.
Veolia Water UK has controlling holdings in three British Statutory Water Companies (SWC's), asset
owning entities that supply water only. VE acquired six SWC's between 1988 and 1990, the most
important of which is Three Valleys Water.
Y/E 31/03/2005 (£ million) Population Equity Turnover Operating
Holding
Profit
Three Valleys Water 3,000,000 100.0% 174.46 44.34
Tendring Hundreds 150,000 99.1% 14.63 5.38
Folkestone & Dover Water 163,220 78.7% 13.58 6.37
Ofwat and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (now the Competition Commission) had enforced
limits on VE’s holdings in South Staffordshire Group Bristol Waterworks and Mid Kent Holdings. In
consequence, these stakes have been divested. The 1996 bid for Mid Kent Holdings Plc was blocked
by the MMC in January 1997, while the merger of the constituent parts of Three Valley’s Plc was
delayed by a reference to the MMC.
Three Valleys consists of the Colne Valley, Rickmansworth and Lee Valley Water companies, which
were merged in 1994. The company grew again following a merger in October 2000 with VE’s North
Surrey Water, which was formed in 1973 from four founder companies. The company provides 0.860
million m 3 of water per day to parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire,
Surrey, and the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon and Enfield.
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Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2005 – 2006