Paris (AFP)

Twist: the champion of water and waste Veolia has moved up a gear by putting nearly 8 billion euros on the table in order to acquire Suez, renouncing the friendly nature of its attempt to buy out its competitor , after months of unsuccessful attempts.

Sunday evening, it was in a brief press release that Veolia, which in October bought 29.9% of the capital of its major French competitor Suez, noted that "its repeated attempts at friendliness, reiterated in its offer proposal for January 7, 2021, all encountered opposition "from its target.

Faced with Suez's intransigence, Veolia's board of directors has decided to launch a public tender offer at a price of 18 euros per share, on the 70.1% of the capital it does not hold, i.e. a transaction amounting to € 7.9 billion in cash.

His target immediately reacted to AFP: "Veolia is legally unable to file a takeover bid," said a spokesperson for Suez, denouncing a "breach of the commitment of friendliness" made by Veolia.

"We will not allow Veolia to do its destruction business", declared for its part the inter-union of Suez (CGT, FO, CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC) denouncing a "hostile takeover against Suez and its employees", synonymous of "declaration of war without return".

In an increasingly sustained and competitive global market, Veolia wants to create a "French super champion" of the sector, a "project in the interest of the nation", according to its CEO Antoine Frérot.

The group cut its cards at the end of August, while a month earlier its shareholder Engie had said he was "open" to the sale of its 29.9% in Suez.

But for months, its target has been shouting "dismantling", invoking its own potential, its strategic plan, its disposals to enable it to acquire cutting-edge activities.

For the managing director of Suez, Bertrand Camus, this takeover would be "an alchemy in reverse, to transform gold into lead".

For their part, elected officials expressed strong fears about the consequences of the project, on the price of water, the maintenance of competition, investment and employment.

- Door closed -

In mid-January, Suez counter-attacked by announcing an offer from the French Ardian and American funds GIP, to reach a "friendly solution" with Veolia: but the latter immediately sent an end of refusal.

However, the dialogue seemed to have resumed recently: the two groups were to start talking to each other "very, very soon", Philippe Varin, the chairman of the board of directors of Suez, told AFP last Wednesday.

And the day before, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire estimated that an amicable solution was "within reach".

Friday, Antoine Frérot and Bertrand Camus even met, according to a source close to the file.

But the door slammed shut.

"Suez has multiplied over the past four months the actions intended to obstruct the proposed offer from Veolia", was justified this last Sunday evening.

These actions "found their culmination in the declarations of Suez, Ardian and GIP of January 17 indicating an alternative offer of the latter and the decision of the board of directors of Suez" to support this offer.

Castigating "maneuvers and ambiguous declarations by Suez, Ardian and GIP", Veolia therefore decided to "submit a formal offer, in order to be able to enter into discussion" with its target.

For its part, the board of directors of Suez now has "one month to issue a recommendation on this offer", the formal filing of which makes it possible to launch the consultation of employee representative bodies and to hope to complete "the negotiations allowing the creation of 'a new Suez,' a Veolia spokesperson told AFP.

At the beginning of February, the Nanterre court had put Veolia back on the road to buying Suez, acknowledging that it did not have to consult "at this stage" the representative bodies of its competitor to buy it.

And the giant of water and waste had warned, a few days before, that it would oppose any transfer of assets that it considers strategic on the part of Suez.

After its initial support for the buyout project by Veolia, the state seemed to distance itself in recent weeks and called instead for dialogue.

© 2021 AFP