PARIS, France – French environmental giant SUEZ will integrate and rebrand GE’s industrial water business as SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions following its multi-billion euro acquisition.
In its half-year net results released today, SUEZ said it expects the financial transaction to close in September, subject to regulatory approvals.
It added that: “A meeting will be held in fourth-quarter 2017 to detail the Group’s strategy on these markets and provide more exhaustive information on SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions’ business activities.”
Over four months have passed since SUEZ announced it would buy GE’s water business for €3.2 billion.
With an enormous merge required to integrate a technology supplier into the water services provider’s business, few details have emerged about how this is progressing apart from in April when SUEZ said it had successfully secured €1.2 billion in bonds to finance the buy.
In its half-year results, Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ, said the GE deal “builds on SUEZ’s international footprint, especially in the United States. The transaction is expected to close by the end of third-quarter 2017. Our teams are fully committed to a successful integration and to achieving the expected synergies.
“We will present the group’s strategy for these markets and provide details on the business activities of SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions, as the new entity will be called, at a separate dedicated meeting in fourth-quarter 2017.”
In a statement, GE told WWi magazine: “GE is actively engaged in the process to sell its Water & Process Technologies Business to SUEZ…It is progressing with the customary closing conditions such as regulatory approvals and appropriate consultation. GE is targeting a close of the sale in Q3.”
The rebranding of the GE business was to be expected from SUEZ, who unified its United Water, Degremont and SENA Waste Services under the single SUEZ brand at the end of 2015.
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