Paris (AFP)

The purchase by Veolia of a good part of Suez "is a compromise" and "all is not perfect", agreed Tuesday the general manager of Suez, Bertrand Camus, the day after an agreement reached between the two giants water and waste.

After almost eight months of legal, media and stock market battle, Veolia and Suez buried the hatchet on Monday, the second having ended up giving in to the advances of the first.

"Yes, it is a compromise, all is not perfect, but it was time to arrive at this solution", summarized the general manager of Suez at the microphone of France Inter.

“We set ourselves a line from the start of this operation in the face of the Veolia attack, it was both to be able to preserve a group, a competitor to Veolia in the domestic and international markets, to also have social guarantees for our employees and fair treatment of shareholders. When we look at the progress made after seven months, these three objectives have been achieved, "he said.

Referring to the raid led by Veolia, Bertrand Camus said: "we fought with the clear determination to escape it. At one point, the reality prevailed, in particular the fact that they were able to acquire 29.9% of Suez, which was a very important step and which has changed the data of this takeover a little from the start ".

"The state has been trying to find a way of compromise between the two groups since September. Now we have to implement this. We have to look to the future. The new Suez has the capacity to be viable, sustainable over time, "said Mr. Camus.

Referring to the CEO of Veolia, Antoine Frérot, Bertrand Camus considered that the operation was "a movement which is interesting for him".

Suez "has excellent results, he came to get what he was missing, he carried out his operation. What was very important is that after these 7-8 months of battle, we manage to sit down and to find a compromise. There is professional respect, "he said.

"It takes another year to complete this operation," he said.

Asked about his intention to remain in office or not, Bertrand Camus did not wish to answer, indicating that there was "no decision taken".

Monday, the president of Suez Philippe Varin had evoked the "principle of reality" and had said to understand the "disappointment" of the employees.

According to the agreement reached, Veolia will buy a large part of Suez's international activities for a total turnover of 37 billion euros.

At the same time, the future Suez, largely focused on France, will be taken over by majority French shareholders and will be less than half the size of the current group, i.e. around 7 billion in revenues out of the 17 billion recorded in 2020. .

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