Israeli desalination company IDE Technologies is reportedly being put up for sale by owners ICL Group and Delek Group and could fetch up to $1 billion, local sources have claimed.
The joint decision to sell the company was made following a board meeting in Spain on Tuesday, according to local sources, with estimates suggesting the price could be in the region of between $500 million and $1 billion.
Israel news source Haaretz reported that by selling IDE to a foreign buyer, it would open up the Arab world as a potential market, if it sold off its Israeli desalination plants.
The news follows IDE Technologies having to make redundancies at its HQ in Israel following completion of its Ashkelon, Hadera and Soreq (see WWi article) projects in the country, in a bid to refocus internationally.
Meanwhile Israeli financial daily Globes quoted sources saying that the decision to sell off IDE Technologies is a “theoretical one”, “does not indicate that there are negotiations underway at present” and that “when a buyer should arrive, the company will begin negotiating terms”.
IDE Technologies told WWi magazine that currently it’s unable to comment on the matter.
The reported decision would fall in line with owning company ICL’s plan to consolidate its businesses as part of its “Next Step Forward” strategy, and refocusing operations on agricultural, food and engineered materials.
Last month ICL agreed to sell off its German water-treatment business – APW – to Japanese water company Kurita Water Industries for 250 million euros.
In a bid to expand into the Canadian water treatment and oil sands market, the company recently announced that it would be partnering with Fair Canada Engineering (see article).
IDE Technologies will be supplying equipment and providing operation and maintenance over 30 years to the Carlsbad Desalination project in California – a breakthrough for the US desalination industry which will eventually process over 200,000 m3/day.
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