The Engie and Veolia groups announced on October 9, 2020 their intention to appeal, following the court decision suspending the purchase of Suez shares by Veolia, the French water and waste giant. This suspension has been decided as long as the social and economic committees (CSE) of Suez and Suez Eau France, which initiated the procedure, have not been "informed and consulted" on the "decisions already taken", according to information from AFP and Reuters.
After submission of their first proposal an August 30, 2020 Veolia finally offered 18 euros per share and guaranteed to maintain 100% of jobs and social benefits for all Suez employees in France, the certainty of a French operation, and the preservation of competition thanks to the takeover by Meridiam of the Water activity in France from Suez. Meridiam, a globally acting company investing in infrastructure projects, committed also to take over the R&D center of Suez and to double the investments planned and to inject 800 million euros into this new scope within five to seven years.
While Suez still considers the full acquisition by Veolia as hostile takeover, some experts tend to consider the deal as first decisive step in the construction in France of a "world super champion" of the ecological transformation. German recycling specialist Remondis welcomes the efforts by Veolia to takeover Suez as a "long-term strategy to protect European interests in Europe" (source: Handelsblatt). According a publication by Global Water Intelligence in August 2019, Suez and Veolia took places 1 and 2 in the ranking of the world’s largest private water operators, which together serve about 264 million people. Thirteen of the world’s twenty largest private sector operators of water and wastewater infrastructure are based in China, the GWI report also says.
Furthermore, both enterprises are globally active technology providers and plant constructors, who own large portfolios of systems and processes to treat water and wastewater. Only in July 2020 Suez acquired the membrane business from Lanxess.