...- On April 12, 2021, Veolia Environnement S.A. and Suez S.A. reached an agreement allowing a merger. Veolia increased its offer to 20.5 per share, with the total price for the remaining 70.1% of Suez equity at about 9.4 billion, 1.5 billion higher than the previous offer; Suez reported net debt of 12.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2020. - As part of the agreement, Veolia should sell--to a consortium of funds led by Meridiam and French government-related entity CDC--Suez assets currently representing about 7 billion of Suez's revenue (about 40% of Suez 2020 revenue), which represent8.7 billion of proceeds from disposals, according to our estimates. - Although these transactions still need to be detailed and agreed by May 14, 2021, we believe a merger is more certain and it could close in first-quarter 2022. Veolia would retain Suez's international assets generating about 10 billion of revenue, notably in the U.S. and China. - Given the size of the transaction and the resulting increase in financial...
