Veolia Environnement SA (formerly Vivendi Environnement) is a leading French-based multinational with activities in four main areas - water, waste management, energy and transport services. In 2003 it had revenues of €28.6bn and employed around 250,000 people. It is quoted on the Paris and New York stock exchanges.
In 1998, the company changed its name to Vivendi, and sold off its property and construction divisions the following year. In July 2000, the company spun off the remaining water and waste companies into Vivendi Environnement, which in 2003 was renamed Veolia Environnement.
VivendiEnvironnement, a unit of media giant Vivendi Universal, said it planned to make the acquisition, already flagged in March, through its VivendiWater UK subsidiary, which stands to invest up to 680 million euros ($623.9 million).
Shares in VivendiEnvironnment, which have underperformed peers in recent sessions amid uncertainty over parent Vivendi Universal's commitment to keeping the unit, were flat at 0913 GMT, standing at Monday's close or 36.50 euros in a weaker Paris market.
VivendiEnvironnement said its advisors on the deal, which should be closed during the fourth quarter of this year, were Lazard and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney.
Vivendi was the name of a French company, which merged in 2000 with Canal+ television networks and the Canadian company Seagram, the owner of Universal Studios film company, to become Vivendi Universal.
In 1996, Vivendi created Cegetel to take advantage of the 1998 deregulation of the French telecommunications market; it is currently a leading provider of both fixed and mobile services.
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