Water

The sale, which will allow Veolia to cut its debt by about €250m, is part of the company’s strategy to refocus on less capital intensive opportunities.

The transaction, which is subject to Israel antitrust approval, is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2014.

Veolia operates the Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant in Israel providing about 15% of the country’s domestic needs.

The company owns a 50% equity stake in the plant, which operates under a long-term build-operate-transfer contract.

Veolia designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions for the sustainable development of communities and industries.

The company, which employs more than 200,000 people, supplied 94 million people with drinking water and 62 million people with wastewater services in 2013.

Veolia generated 86 million megawatt hours of energy and converted 38 million metric tons of waste into new materials and energy in 2013.

Image: Veolia supplied 94 million people with drinking water in 2013. Photo: Courtesy of sakhorn38/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.