MergerMarket
Suez targets GE Water; Danaher drops - sources
French environmental services group Suez [EPA:SEV] is pursuing General Electric’s [NYSE:GE] water technology business, according to two sources briefed on the matter.
Final-round bids for GE’s Water & Process Technologies unit are due early next month, said the first source and a third source who was also briefed. The unit, shopped by Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, may fetch around USD 3.2bn, this news service previously reported.
Financial sponsors Warburg Pincus, Bain Capital and Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) are also chasing the business, as reported. CD&R is bidding through its portfolio company Solenis.
Danaher [NYSE:DHR], meanwhile, has left the auction, said the second source, a fourth source, also briefed on the matter, and a sector adviser. This news service reported early last month that the diversified industrials company was looking at the asset.
Washington, DC-based Danaher is a serial acquirer and owns several water treatment and testing brands. When asked about GE Water on an earnings call late last month, CEO Thomas Joyce said the company prefers water acquisitions with high margins to infrastructure assets.
Suez, based in Paris, has made a string of small buys in recent years to expand its global water treatment business. It has a EUR 8.2bn market cap and EUR 8.7bn in net debt. It is scheduled to report full 2016 results on 1 March.
Solenis, owned by CD&R since 2014, manufactures chemicals for water treatment and develops water monitoring systems. The company has long been considered a logical suitor for GE Water.
GE, the Boston-based industrials conglomerate, has been shopping its water unit to help finance a plan to combine its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes [NYSE:BHI] and address potential antitrust concerns.
Washington, DC-based Danaher is a serial acquirer and owns several water treatment and testing brands. When asked about GE Water on an earnings call late last month, CEO Thomas Joyce said the company prefers water acquisitions with high margins to infrastructure assets.
Suez, based in Paris, has made a string of small buys in recent years to expand its global water treatment business. It has a EUR 8.2bn market cap and EUR 8.7bn in net debt. It is scheduled to report full 2016 results on 1 March.
Solenis, owned by CD&R since 2014, manufactures chemicals for water treatment and develops water monitoring systems. The company has long been considered a logical suitor for GE Water.
GE, the Boston-based industrials conglomerate, has been shopping its water unit to help finance a plan to combine its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes [NYSE:BHI] and address potential antitrust concerns.
GE declined to comment. Suez was not available for comment; Danaher did not return a request for comment.