Suez Environnement hopes to tap surging demand for water and wastewater services in the arid but booming economies of the Gulf, where contracts worth $21bn will be up for grabs over the next decade. Arabian Business meets CEO Jean-Louis Chaussade on the company's first day of trading in Paris.
Jean-Louis Chaussade has been waiting for this day for nearly two and a half years. Now the Suez Environnement CEO is visibly excited as he rings the bell on the NYSE Euronext Stock Exchange in Paris to mark the first day of trading for 490 million newly listed shares.
"It is a very moving moment for me," says the CEO of the French water and wastewater treatment firm Suez Environnement, amid the frenetic activity of the official launch at the Parisian headquarters of the NYSE Euronext, the second largest exchange in Europe.
The initial public offering of the Paris-based company, which is expected to become one of the three largest listed utilities companies in the world, is the final result of the $152.3bn merger of French state-owned Gaz de France and Belgian industrial firm Suez, to create Europe's second-largest energy group, GDF Suez.
Under the terms of the merger, Suez Environnement floated 51 percent of its shares on the market. The company's first day of trading was a successful one. Shares jumped 30 percent to end the day at 18.10 euros.
Amid a slowdown in European and North American infrastructure spending, global utilities are looking to the Middle East to sustain their order books, where around $21bn in wastewater and desalination projects are planned through 2015.
Suez is leading the European influx as it bids for new work across the region.
"Suez Environnement and Veolia are both competing for bids in the Middle East. The region is certainly in their sights because of the huge value added projects there.
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