Environmental services group Suez will take over French hazardous waste assets owned by its competitor Veolia. The assets represent an enterprise value of €690m, the two companies announced in identical press releases on 6 May.
The sale of these activities by Veolia was one of the remedies required by the European Commission's competition directorate last December for approving Veolia’s take-over of large parts of Suez.
Veolia agreed at the time to divest part of the hazardous waste landfill business in its home market of France and certain operations in the water sector. The sales agreement is formalised through a unilateral put option, “which will allow the parties to complete the transaction, as well as the consultation process with Veolia’s employee representative bodies and to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals”. The transaction will be carried out in line with all the social commitments announced by the two groups, Suez and Veolia announced....
