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Prepared by Anton Earle, September 2001

Introduction

The past decade has seen the growth of a new phenomenon - the international water company. With the increasing privatisation of water services, either through the outright acquisition of water related infrastructure or through concession contracts, several companies have been engaged in aggressive growth programmes aimed at ensuring increasing global market share and increased shareholder profits derived from the business of providing water services. This section of The Water Page provides an overview of the current status of international water companies and gives an insight into some of the current debates related to privatisation, regulation, the urban/rural divide and globalisation.

The phenomenon of the international water company is not welcomed by all. There are those who are very strong and powerful proponents of the involvement of the private sector, who advocate deregulation and the opening of markets, and there are those who regard the phenomenon with grave concerns as opening vast numbers of people to further exploitation. Different opinions are given expressed in the section.

Facts and figures

Seven sets of information are provided below. They are provided to give a "snap shot" of the current situation. All of the information has been derived from official documents (latest Annual Reports etc.), most of which have been accessed via the Internet. The information is provided in graphic of table form and includes the following:-

The geographical location of where companies are operating around the world

The proportion of water & sanitation services which are privatised and the value of the privatised market

International investment in water and sanitation

The number of people served with water supply and sanitation by different companies

Income, Profit & Size of Major International Water Companies

Turnover of international water operations

Major International Water Companies & Their Foreign Subsidiaries

Private Water Companies - where do they operate?
Companies operating water & sewerage services outside of their home countries

International Water Companies on the Continents

Europe	Asia	Mid-East & north Africa	Latin America	North America	Australia	Sub-Saharan Africa
Thames Water	AWG	ONDEO	ONDEO	Vivendi	ONDEO	Thames Water
ONDEO	ONDEO	Vivendi	American Water	Azurix	Vivendi	Vivendi
Vivendi	Vivendi	SAUR	Vivendi	United Water	.	ONDEO
AGBAR	Thames Water	.	AGBAR	ONDEO	.	SAUR
SAUR	.	.	SAUR	Aquarion	.	.
.	.	.	AWG	American Water	.	.

Proportion of Water & Sanitation Services Privatised 1997 & 2010 projected
Region	% Privatised, 1997	% Privatised, 2010	Value of privatised market (US$, billions)
Western Europe*	20	35	10
Central & east Europe	4	20	4
North America	5	15	9
Latin America	4	60	9
Africa	3	33	3
Asia	1	20	10

* Excluding France and UK
Source: Vivendi (1999)

Who supplies the water
The number of people served - water supply and sanitation (Millions)

Income, Profit & Size of Major International Water Companies
Parent Company	Principle wholly owned subsidiaries	Turnover (US$ million)	Operating Profit (US$ million)	Employees
Vivendi	.	48,430	2,883	290,000
.	Vivendi Environment (was Generale des Eaux)	24,645	1,763	215,000
.	Water division	11,904	N/A	67,000
SUEZ	.	31,620	3,522	173,200
.	ONDEO (was Lyonnaise Des Eaux)	8,463	1,953	17,670
RWE	.	43,700	2,418	172,000
.	Thames Water (includes subsidiaries)	3,998	1,358	23,000
Bouyges	.	17,725	1,370	120,000
.	SAUR	2,231	108	23,000
AWG	.	1,810	450	10,022
.	Anglian Water	1,080	439	7000
Kelda	.	1,001	335	N/A
.	Yorkshire Water	797	315	3000

Major International Water Companies & Their Foreign Subsidiaries Only subsidiaries in which company has greater than a 50% share shown (Name followed by country - see country codes below)
Parent Company	Vivendi(France)	Suez(France)	RWE(Germany)	Bouyges(France)	Kelda(UK)
Water Division	Vivendi Environment	ONDEO	Thames Water	SAUR	Yorkshire Water
Subsidiaries	US Filter (USA)	AGBAR (ESP)	American Water (USA)	Aquatech (CAN)	Alcontrol BV (NLD)
	Aqua Alliance (USA)	Northumbrian Water (UK)	Azurix (USA)	Dynamco (UK)	Aquarion (USA)
	PSG (USA)	United Water (USA)	Wessex Water (UK)	Emalsa (ESP)	Canadian Clean Water (CAN)
	Aguas de Aconquija (ARG)	Aguas de Limeira (BRA)	Bovis Thames (CHN)	Guestagua (ESP)	Henrici Melieulaboratoriu (NLD)
	Aguas de Jaen (ESP)	Aguas Decima (CHL)	FB Leopold (USA)	Rossa (RUS)	Alcontrol GmbH (DEU)
	Aguas del Sauce (URY)	Aguas Provinciales de Santa Fe (ARG)	Hydro-Aerobics (USA)	Sigesa (ITA)	.
	Folkestone & Dover Water (UK)	Aqua Toscana (ITL)	Kelantan (MYS)	Senegalaise de Eaux (SEN)	.
	Ibersade (ESP)	Aquasystems (SVN)	.	Sodeci (CIV)	.
	MSG (GMB)	Calgon (USA)	.	.	.
	Oewa (DEU)	Essex & Suffolk (UK)
	OK Wasser (DEU)	Eurawasser (DEU)
	OMSA (MEX)	GGA (ESP)
	SEEG (GAB)	JMM-OSI (USA)
	Servitec (HUN)	LdE (ISR)
	United Water (AUS)	Lydec (MAR)
	.	Palya (IDN)
	.	Sino-French Water (CHN)

Country Codes		.		.
ARG: Argentina	DEU: Germany	ITA: Italy	MYS: Malaysia	UK: United Kingdom
BRA: Brazil	ESP: Spain	ISR: Israel	MAR: Morocco	USA: United States
CAN: Canada	GMB: Gambia	IDN: Indonesia	RUS: Russia	URY: Uruguay
CIV: Ivory Coast	HUN: Hungary	MEX: Mexico	SVN: Slovenia


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