A word from the Editor…

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The takeover of Thames Water takes centre stage this month.

With the financial strength of RWE behind it, Thames is in a better position to expand further into non-regulated markets. Faced with Ofwat’s price cap at home, Thames has already developed a strong portfolio overseas but has lagged behind its two French rivals.

The deal with RWE provides a much larger balance sheet from which to work and will mean that the Anglo-German company is strongly placed to take on Vivendi Environnement and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux.

The Thames/RWE deal has sparked off talk of a fresh round of mergers in the water industry. Other European utilities are reportedly considering expansion into a global market worth over $300 billion. Speculation has centred on who is looking for acquisition targets and the companies most vulnerable to takeover.

Elsewhere in this issue of GWI, Andreas King of SERM writes that a number of UK water companies are well positioned to meet the requirements of the Turnbull Code which becomes a London Stock Exchange listing requirement at the end of the year.

Turnbull requires listed companies to assess and report on their significant social, ethical and environmental risks. SERM has conducted a major risk assessment exercise and GWI is the first water industry publication to disclose the results.

We have also included several new projects in this month’s tracker. The cities of Prague (Czech Republic), Varna and Shumen (Bulgaria), and San Jose (Costa Rica) all intend to hire a private operator to run their water supply and wastewater networks. Tracker will monitor the pre-qualification and bidding processes and report on the eventual outcome.

Peter Allison, Editor

P. S. Please don’t forget to register for our second annual global water conference in November. This year’s event will be held at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in London. For more information on this and other GWI products, please visit our website www.waterfinance.com