Voila Veolia

31 August 2020 By Lisa Jucca Follow @LJucca

The French water-and-waste group is at last pouncing on rival Suez. The 15.50 euros a share cash bid for Engie’s 30% stake is ballsy as a full takeover will face antitrust scrutiny. Yet the returns look attractive. Jumping on the green economy bandwagon should pay off over time.

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French water and waste-management firm Veolia said on Aug. 30 it had made an unsolicited bid of 15.50 euros per share in cash, or 2.9 billion euros, to acquire the 29.9% stake in rival Suez owned by gas and power utility Engie.

If the offer is accepted, Veolia plans to bid for the whole of Suez.

The offer represents an equity premium of about 50% over Suez’s share price on July 30, when Engie said it was reviewing its options for the holding and gives Suez an enterprise value of around 20 billion euros.

Veolia said it estimated 500 million euros of annual cost synergies from the Suez deal.

- Shares in Veolia were up 3.8% in morning trading.

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