Lyonnaise des Eaux, the water division of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux Group and its Spanish partner Agbar have been selected by the State of Chile for the partial privatisation of Santiago's Water Company which supplies water services to the city's 5 million inhabitants.The concession is to run for an unlimited duration. The consortium made of the Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux Group and Agbar will acquire around 42% of EMOS, the owner of Santiago Water facilities for US$957 million. The objective is to manage water supply for the 44 districts of Santiago and develop wastewater services in the city.
Commenting on the announcement, Gérard Mestrallet, CEO and President of the Executive Board of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux Group said: "The concession of Santiago further strengthens our position in Latin America. We look forward to contributing, with our partner Agbar, to the improvement of the water and wastewater services of Santiago and share our expertise locally".
The activities and turnover of the company are expected to double in a short period of time due to a significant investment programme planning for the construction of wastewater facilities to clean the water currently rejected without prior treatment. EMOS' net profit today represents a third of its turnover EMOS' growth prospects are high.
In recent years, the State of Chile has undertaken to privatise public utilities. The concession of Santiago is the country's largest privatised Water Company and follows Valparaiso privitised in 1998.
Lyonnaise des Eaux has been operating the water services in Latin America since 1993, for the cities of Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Santa Fe (Argentina), La Paz - El Alto (Bolivia) and Limeira (Brazil). It supplies 16 million people in water and 11 million people in Wastewater services in the region.
Lyonnaise des Eaux, the water division of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux Group, is the world leader in water management, currently supplying 77 million people with drinking water and 52 million people with wastewater services in large cities including Atlanta, Manilla, Casablanca and Sydney. Lyonnaise des Eaux controls the entire water cycle including water resources management, drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment and sludge treatment.
Water and wastewater concession of Santiago :
Key figures
Population served : 5 million people
Population supplied with drinking water : 100%
Population connected to the network : 97%
Wastewater treated : 3%
Potable water network : 9600km
Wastewater plant : None
Annual water production : 530 million m3
Price water per m3 : US$ 0.38
Unacounted for water : 3%
EMOS staff : 1700
