Veolia to Sell US Operations

During its annual Shareholders Day Dec. 6, the French-based solid waste management Veolia Environnement Co. (VE) announced plans to sell its North American waste management and recycling division, Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp (VESNA).(Veolia North America was profiled in the November 2011 issue of Recycling Today. Click here to read the article) The decision to sell its North American assets are part of VE’s overall plan to divest around €5 billion (US$6.7 billion) in assets and reduce the company’s financial debt to less than €12 billion (US$16 billion) over the next two years.

Along with selling off its North American assets VE is looking to divest its U.K. water operations and reduce the company’s overall geographic footprint. According to VE, the company is seeking to narrow its concentration to three divisions: water, environmental services and energy services.

"The strategic plan that we are announcing today is going to drive a profound transformation of our company in order to adapt to the current economic and financial environment and to quickly position Veolia Environnement to capture the most attractive growth opportunities,” says Antoine Frérot, Veolia Environnement’s chairman and CEO.” It is an ambitious, but realistic plan. My management team and I are committed to this effort with conviction and confidence."

Following VE’s announcement, Richard Burke, VESNA’s president and CEO, released the following statement: “Early this morning, our parent company, Veolia Environnement announced to the financial media its intent to exit the solid waste business in the United States.

Veolia’s board of directors approved this decision, and the company will be actively moving forward with finding an appropriate buyer for Veolia ES Solid Waste Inc.”

“These divestiture plans are in support of VE’s existing program to pay down debt and increase cash flow, which has been in place since 2009 and was expanded earlier this year. Our solid waste business is self-sustaining, profitable and highly marketable, and its sale will make a significant contribution to the financial wellbeing of Veolia globally,” Burke continued.

“As the company seeks a buyer, we will continue with business as usual. Our drivers, sales teams, customer service representatives and managers will continue to provide a top quality service and we will deliver on our promise to ‘Service First, Safety Always’. We will honor our contracts and partnerships, and conduct business responsibly and without interruption throughout this process.”

“The normal operations and support functions for our other business units, Veolia ES Technical Solutions and Veolia ES Industrial Services, are not directly impacted.”