THE NEW ECONOMY OF WATER

摘要

During the late 1990s, the United States (U.S.) water industry was dominated by massive rolls ups orchestrated by large European utility firms. Companies such as France's Veolia and Suez, German based RWE, and Britain's United Utilities continually went head to head bidding up U.S. water companies in an attempt to gain a dominant foothold over other would be European competitors. American water companies and shareholders loved the competition. The Euros were so anxious to gain control of the U.S. market that they would tender offers for stocks at very high multiples - almost three to four times revenues and as much as 20 times earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation, and amortization (EBITDA). The charismatic CEO of Aqua America (then Philadelphia Suburban) even quipped at an industry conference during the massive roll up period, "We love the French." How times have changed. The U.S. based Aqua America has become the dominant U.S. water company after Veolia dumped its 17 percent ownership in 2002, and by doing so, completely abandoned any plans of a full rolle up of the company. The European flight from the U.S. market is continuing with RWE and Nuon's announced the sales of their American based water businesses.