Véolia will take control of Suez

This is a major operation in the French business world: Veolia, world leader in water and waste treatment, is preparing to take control of Suez, its major competitor.

These are great maneuvers indeed. Veolia, the buyer, is an empire of 180,000 employees and 27 billion euros in turnover. Suez is smaller, still 89,000 employees and 18 billion in turnover. The two enemy brothers are present in the same trades, water and waste treatment and energy. It is obvious that the context of crisis is pushing for the regrouping of forces. But it would be a serious analytical error to stop at that to explain this operation.

Why?

Because these great maneuvers, moreover not so frequent within French capitalism, relate to areas which are more and more strategic. Veolia and Suez are at the heart of the ecological transition. And there, we are not in the speeches, we are in the concrete. Veolia's PGD, Antoine Frérot, explains, for example, that if the technological solutions that already exist at Veolia were implemented throughout the world, this would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%. He told us last night that with this merger, he wanted to create the "world super champion of ecological transition". This transition is a business, it is growth, it is jobs. There will be no "green deal" or a green economy without technological progress and without these large private players.

Now it is still necessary that the reconciliation of these "enemy brothers" succeed without hindrance.

It is the shadow on the board. The Suez teams will be headlong. On paper, the combination of the two makes it the undisputed world leader in water and waste management, major sectors. Consider that 30% of humanity does not have access to drinking water. Or that the world is drowning in plastic waste that must be recycled. These are huge markets. Veolia and Suez are cut out for this. Their teams still have to agree to get married: it will not be easy.