PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) Feb.25, 2021--S&P Global Ratings said today that French utility Veolia Environnement S.A.'s expected strong performance in 2021 should offset the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2020 results, which were in line with our expectations. Veolia reported EBITDA of €3.6 billion, down from €4.0 billion in 2019. Despite this decline, we expect EBITDA will rebound in 2021 to above €4.0 billion (not including newly acquired 29.9% stake in Suez S.A., which will be accounted for as an equity affiliate). This, coupled with an expected reduction in net debt to below €12.0 billion should result in credit metrics consistent with the current rating, notably net debt to EBITDA of below 3x in 2021, which corresponds to
