
The French government reiterated its desire for Suez and Veolia Environnement to find a “friendly” resolution to their takeover battle. Yet it was unclear whether the companies were ready to end hostilities and begin meaningful talks.
The months-long stalemate between Veolia and its takeover target, Suez, was shaken up on Sunday, January 17, by the emergence of a possible rival offer from two private equity firms. While the new proposal should be a catalyst for the first formal negotiations between the French waste and water giants, the company’s bosses continued to talk past each other on Monday.
After months of refusing to engage with Veolia, Suez Chief Executive Officer Bertrand Camus said he was ready to talk — about the €11.3 billion (US$13.6 billion) friendly takeover proposal from Ardian SAS and New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners. His counterpart at Veolia, Antoine Frerot, said he wouldn’t discuss the private-equity approach, but was willing start negotiations about his own takeover proposal.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Public Interest Groups Push for Rehearing on FCC Net Neutrality Case
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
Australian Regulator Backs Virgin Australia-Qatar Airways Alliance
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
EU Scales Back AI Regulations to Compete with US in Global Tech Race
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
Democratic Lawmakers Raise Concerns Over Musk’s Task Force and Taxpayer Data Security
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
UK’s CMA Provisionally Approves Poultry Feed Merger
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – International Criminal Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
CPI
The Antitrust Division’s Recent Work to Combat International Cartels
Jan 23, 2025 by
Emma Burnham & Benjamin Christenson
Information Sharing: The New Frontier of U.S. Antitrust Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
Brian P. Quinn, Casey Kovarik & Michael Tubach
The Key Role of Guidelines on Exchanges of Information Among Competitors and the Divergent Transatlantic Paths
Jan 23, 2025 by
Rosa Abrantes-Metz & Albert Metz
Leniency, Whistleblowers, and Compliance
Jan 23, 2025 by
Richard Powers, Tara O’Malley & Cory Gordon