Vol 2, Issue 5 (May 2001)

Analysis

  • A word from the Editor…

    This month’s GWI has a distinctly European flavour, focusing on attempts to encourage private sector management and investment in two key markets – Italy and Germany.

General

  • AES wraps Barka financing

    THE AES SUBSIDIARY, AES Barka SAOC, has completed the financing for Oman’s Barka power and water plant. Lead arrangers on the $348.6 million loan are ANZ Investment Bank and Arab Banking Corporation.

  • Agbar and Ondeo eye Casan share

    ONDEO AND AGUAS DE BARCELONA (AGBAR) are two of the international private water companies showing interest in taking a stake in Companhia Catarinense de Aguas e Saneamento (Casan), the Santa Catarina state water company in southern Brazil.

  • Brazil: water sector legislation slows down

    BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT HOPES of rapid congressional passage for new legislation opening up the water sector to private investors have had to be revised.

  • Enel tables Southern Water bid

    ITALIAN ELECTRICITY GROUP ENEL has confirmed that it has made a non-binding offer – believed to be worth £800 million (€1.3 billion) – for Southern Water.

  • German success for VE

    VIVENDI ENVIRONNEMENT (VE) has paid DM108 million (€55 million) to take over the water treatment and other municipal services operated by the Stadtwerke in the east German town of Görlitz.

  • Germany: slow progress on market liberalisation

    The need for competition looks evident in Germany’s water industry where, on average, 88 water companies supply every 1 million inhabitants, compared with just 4.4 companies per 1 million people in the Netherlands, 2.3 in Italy, 0.7 in England and Wales and a mere 0.13 in France. However, in the face of hardened opposition, the route to liberalisation will require considerable political manoeuvring.

  • Italian regions respond to Galli challenge

    Implementation of the Galli Law is still lagging behind in Italy, seven years after the bill – which sets out a major overhaul of the water sector – was passed. National and European legislation, rising demand and environmental awareness require higher levels of service than currently provided. In the south of Italy, over 40% of the population does not have enough water and, nationally, over 50% equivalent population need sewage treatment facilities upgrading.

  • IWL chases Guayaquil financing

    INTERNATIONAL WATER is to approach the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) for long-term financing for its 30-year concession contract in Guayaquil.

  • Speeding up the market

    Recent talk in the industry has focused on the paucity of projects of sufficient size and with low enough risk to attract private developers and bankers. This is holding up the development of more project financing in water. International private water companies and financial institutions would welcome moves to speed up bidding and implementation processes on international contracts and generally kick-start the market. Peter Allison put this view to Jamal Saghir, the World Bank’s director of energy and water.

Brief

  • AES Corporation takes Ras

    AES CORPORATION of the US has booked a preliminary contract from Qatar Petroleum for the Ras Laffan independent water and power project (IWPP).

  • Amman prepares for the summer

    THE WATER AUTHORITY OF JORDAN (WAJ) has said that water supplied to the Amman area from the Zai WTP will be supplemented during the summer months with supplies from the Lajoun and Hallabat districts. The authority said that it wanted to allay concerns about possible shortages.

  • Compesa reduces losses

    PERNAMBUCO STATE WATER COMPANY Compesa registered a loss of R$46.9 million (US$21.2 million) in 2000, a reduction on the 1999 loss of R$76.2 million (US$34.4 million).

  • EU grant money for Yemen

    THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER for External Relations, Chris Patten, has signed financing agreements for two projects in Yemen – one of which is in the water and sanitation sector.

  • Fuji Bank to advise on Saudi scheme

    JAPAN’S SUMITOMO CORPORATION has appointed Fuji Bank as financial adviser for the scheme to build a $2.2 billion power and desalination plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia (see GWI, Vol. 2, Issue 2, p.5).

  • Ondeo to manage Pusan wastewater services

    SUEZ’S ONDEO SUBSIDIARY has been declared preferred bidder by the South Korean municipality of Pusan to manage the city’s wastewater treatment installations on a BOT basis. The contract will last for 18 years and cover financing and construction of a 135,000m<sup>3</sup>/d STP and a 24km collector network.

  • Panama City bay clean up

    THE PANAMANIAN GOVERNMENT is expected to award design and construction contracts for the Panama City and bay clean up project this year, according to project co-ordinator Francisco Castro.

  • Prices up in Israel

    THE PRICE OF POTABLE WATER in Israel soared in mid-April in all sectors, up by 48% for agriculture and by 67% for domestic consumption.

Market insight

  • ECGD: a solution to political risk

    The UK government’s export credit agency, the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) is often regarded as being just for exporters. However, it also plays an important role in encouraging and supporting investment. The role of ECGD is to benefit the UK economy by helping exporters of UK goods and services win business, and companies carrying on business in the UK to invest overseas. It does this by providing guarantees, insurance and reinsurance against loss.

Performer of the month

  • Federal Reserve makes impact in global markets

    The US Federal Reserve influenced the markets in April when it unexpectedly cut the federal funds rate by half a point. The rate cut and favourable first quarter earnings reports boosted stock values for a number of US water companies.