schema:articleBody
| - French water, waste and energy giant Veolia said on Sunday it would not resort to a hostile approach as it seeks to take over rival Suez. Suez has been stolid in its opposition to the bid despite it being supported by its key shareholder, power supplier Engie. And after a Sunday board meeting it remained unmoved, despite Veolia's insistence it wants to keep things friendly. "Any public bid capital bid for Suez will require a favourable response from Suez's board," Veolia said in a statement in which it pledged "unconditionally" not to pursue a hostile bid. That is a precondition from Engie before it will pledge its 29.9 percent Suez stake. Veolia announced its intention to bid for its longtime rival in August but Suez has been trenchant in its opposition, saying the move would run counter to its group's corporate interest. In the teeth of that resistance and with the French state an almost 24 percent stakeholder in Engie, Veolia last week upped its bid for Engie's stake to 3.4 billion euros ($4 billion). With the new offer on the table valid until Monday night, Engie responded last week by urging that, while it saw the bid in line with its expectations on price and social guarantees, Veolia must agree to a friendly accord. French economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, has also asked as much with both firms French industrial standard bearers. But there seemed little sign that Suez would bend as it sought to "conserve in France a second player with global reach..," in water and waste services, board chairman Philippe Varin wrote in a response addressed to Veolia CEO Antoine Frerot and released to the media. Judging that the bid did not conform to "industrial logic" Varin said it therefore still considered it hostile in nature. Veolia had further expressed willingness in order to get a deal over the line to agree to a Suez demand to asset disposals of "around 5 billion euros" of international water service interests, including those of Suez in France. If a deal does ultimately go through it could be the catalyst for a full takeover of Suez, which provides municipal water services in many countries around the world. evs/soe/cdw/har
|