...March 17, 2022 PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) March 17, 2022--S&P Global Ratings today said French waste, water, and energy utility Veolia Environnement S.A.'s (###/Stable/A-2) strong 2021 results provide a solid base for the 25.8 billion acquisition of Suez S.A. carried out over 2020-2022. Reported EBITDA increased to more than 4.2 billion in 2021, above our expectations, with a 16% year-on-year increase. The increase was supported by the economic rebound following COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 globally, together with supportive underlying growth in waste (41% of 2021 EBITDA) and energy (17%) divisions thanks to volumes and price increases, with solid performance in water services (38%). Veolia's net debt decreased to about 9.5 billion in 2021, compared with 13.2 billion in 2021. This is mostly thanks to the 2.5 billion capital increase completed in October 2021 and about 1.2 billion of positive free cash flow after net capex (2.2 billion)--which does not include the investment for Suez--and...
