Veolia Considers Sale of North American Water Assets

(Bloomberg) -- Veolia Environnement SA is considering a sale of some North American water treatment assets, which could fetch as much as 500 million euros ($580 million), according to people familiar with the matter.

The French company is working with an adviser to review options for some operations serving municipal customers, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Veolia could decide late this year whether to proceed with a sale, one of the people said.

Veolia plans to sell about 3 billion euros of assets by the end of 2023 to help fund new investments. Late last year, Veolia completed the sale of its North American heating and cooling networks to Antin Infrastructure Partners in a $1.25 billion deal that helped it toward that goal.

Shares of Veolia have fallen 17% in Paris trading this year, giving the company a market value of about 11.2 billion euros. Discussions on the potential North American divestment are at an early stage, and there’s no certainty they will result in a transaction, the people said.

A representative for Veolia declined to comment.

Veolia facilities in the U.S. manage household and hazardous waste recycling, clean industrial water and provide safe drinking water, according to its website. In March, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated the sectors in which Veolia operates as critical to the country’s infrastructure during the Covid-19 outbreak.

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