Veolia’s senior staff lands in Barcelona to show its investment commitment in Spain. After weeks in which the vocation of the French multinational was questioned, the group’s CEO, Estelle Brachlianoff, highlighted her intentions in the country with investments that amount to 360 million between 2022 and 2023, a figure especially dedicated to the water industry (270 million), key for the conglomerate. For this reason, he defended that there is “no reason” to think about divestments or shareholding movements in both Agbar and Aigües de Barcelona.
In a meeting held at the company’s offices in Barcelona, the board highlighted that the organization already has a turnover of 2.6 billion euros in Spain, mainly in the water business. “Agbar is a fantastic industrial tool within a global networkin which it is a key piece. There is no reason to sell it, quite the opposite,” said the leader.
Nor does it predict changes in Aigües de Barcelona, the company that manages the water of the city and its metropolitan area of which it has 70% – the rest is from Criteria (15%) and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (15%). “The alliance we have works very well, it makes no sense to buy more shares because they are partners that make sense. Each one contributes something,” he added.
In this way, Veolia tries to calm the waters after last spring’s tensions with Criteria, which it accused of being behind “inaccurate” information about a brake on investments in the country. The confrontation caused the resignation of Ángel Simón as president of Aigües de Barcelona – he already left the presidency of Agbar in January after being named CEO of Criteria. This Monday, Brachlianoff wanted to highlight his industrial role.
Thus, the investment arm of La Caixa will have to look for other ways to grow in the water business, which Simón considered strategic just to land in the position. All eyes quickly turned to Agbar, a historic Criteria target.
And Veolia wanted to emphasize its investment commitment both in Barcelona and in the rest of Spain. In the Barcelona subsidiary, this year it will have invested approximately 110 million euros, a figure that includes an extraordinary item due to the effects of the drought. By 2025, when a 6% increase in water prices is planned, it is estimated that the budget will be, at least, similar.
“Every year we invest more and this will continue to be the case,” said the French leader.
The objective is to increase the group’s turnover in Spain by 40% by 2030 from the current 2.6 billion euros. It will be done hand in hand with organic growth based on new contracts, operational improvements, alliances with other firms in the sector and acquisitions. To this last chapter, Veolia allocated 50 million in 2024. Among the acquired firms are Geoter, Groen, Electrimega and Cactus.
For the next campaign, the organization expects a similar volume of purchases, focused on energy efficiency and recycling.
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