Veolia-Suez: waste in the merger
A SACRÉ FINAUD, this Antoine Frérot! In order to avoid, by acquiring its rival Suez, being accused of creating a quasi-monopoly in "environmental services", Veolia's pedégé had committed, as soon as the deal was concluded, to sell the water subsidiary of Suez in France. On the other hand, the world leader in these eco-friendly services has not doused itself on the fate of The Waste and Recycling branch of Suez. And for good reason... Hearing on 23 September by the Members of the Finance Committee and the Committee on Economic Affairs, Antoine Frérot brushed aside the risks of competition: - In waste, overlaps are less serious because there are, apart from Veolia and Suez, four or five groups, Derichebourg, Séché, Paprec or Ortec, which are ready to strengthen in these occupations. It is true that Suez's detritus whets appetites. With 2019 sales of 3.5 billion euros and 16,000 employees, this sector is Suez's main activity - far ahead of the fleet! To escape the Veolia offensive, Suez housed his water in a foundation under Dutch law, making his activities impossible for four years. But it will not be able to do the same with the garbage branch, which is divided into a myriad of companies. If Frérot buys it, Veolia and Suez combined will exceed 50% in at least 50 departments! -- warns Jean-Marc Boursier, Suez's deputy general manager in charge of the France region. On this account, the European Commission could crack down and demand a reduction in the market share of the new set. Cup your bin first! For in Ile-de-France, for example, Veolia and Suez together have 60 incinerators - not far from the totality. And, for the collection of the filthy, the position of the duopoly would be ultra-dominant in at least three regions: the Great East, the North and the Ile-de-France. There is little risk that the French competitors cited by Frérot will challenge this hegemony by buying up subsidiaries: they can hardly afford it. Investment funds or foreign boxes could, on the other hand, enjoy the cake. Yum yum! Chinese groups, for example. In 2016, Beijing Enterprises Holding Limited became the king of German waste methanization. That same year, the Spanish group Urbaser fell into the trap of a Chinese consortium. In September 2019, suez took out the contract to run the largest household waste incinerator in Issy-lesMoulineaux for some 215 million euros over eight years. In defending its proposed merger, Frérot explains that it will create a package powerful enough to withstand foreign competitors. It may, on the contrary, open the doors to them in a big way... Odile Benyahia Kouide