In a statement published on 29 January, the company claimed it has made “good progress in its consultation with relevant competition authorities”. It also held its first face-to-face meeting with the Suez works council to discuss the takeover bid on 28 January. More meetings are to take place this week and involve Veolia allowing Suez workforce representatives to see documents regarding its proposed merger or ‘takeover’.
In terms of the antitrust approval process, Veolia says progress has been made with competition authorities, including the European Commission. Veolia says it is “fully engaged in a constructive dialogue” with the executive branch of the European Union, with which it has shared “a significant amount of information”.
The company says it has also undertaken significant exchanges with the competition authorities with most “relevant” countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It hopes to engage in the process with all the relevant competition authorities in the coming weeks.
“We have not identified any particular difficulties, neither relating to the schedule, nor the remedies that could be requested”
Commenting on the process, Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia’s chief operating officer, said: “We have not identified any particular difficulties, neither relating to the schedule, nor the remedies that could be requested.
“We know these markets extremely well and, at this stage, any required solutions are limited to what was anticipated at the very start of the process.”
In its most recent statement on the takeover bid, Suez said it was willing to “open a dialogue” with Veolia (see letsrecycle.com story). It has put forward what it believes to be an “amicable solution”, which involves investment firms Ardian and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) wading into the battle with a proposal of their own.
Meeting
Veolia’s CEO Antoine Frérot and four other managing directors met with the Suez works board for the first time on 28 January. Two further meetings are set to take place this week as part of the information and consultation process. Veolia says it already offered expert representatives of Suez’s works council access to an “extended data room” containing sensitive documents in early December.
Mr Frérot said: “I have been asking for the opportunity to present to employees of the Suez group and their representatives since we launched our project last August, so I am delighted that this is now happening.
“I am passionate about our exciting project and looking forward to discussing its strong foundations in industrial reality, its commitments to the people of Suez, and its ambition to create a world champion of ecological transformation to meet the urgent global challenges facing us all.”
Plastic recycling
Meanwhile, Veolia announced on 28 January it had expanded its recycling operations to process more than 100 different grades of plastic from consumer, commercial and industrial sources.
The company says it has increased the scope of its plastics recycling at its three dedicated sites in London, Essex and the Midlands by 8,000 tonnes per year.
Internationally, Veolia is part of the cross-value chain Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), currently made up of nearly thirty member companies. The AEPW has committed more than $1 billion to help end plastic waste in the environment and hopes to invest a further $1.5 billion during the next five years.
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