France’s AMF watchdog says Veolia now controls 86% of former rival Suez

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s financial watchdog AMF said that Veolia now controls 86% of rival Suez, officially putting an end to a dramatic billion-dollar takeover saga which will shape the future of Europe’s waste and water management sector.

The French companies in December had won EU antitrust approval for their 13 billion euro ($14.7 billion) tie-up to create a global group better able to compete against Chinese rivals.

Veolia announced its ambitions to swallow up its former rival Suez, which first viewed the takeover plan as hostile, in the summer of 2020, triggering a takeover war which lasted several months until a deal was finally reached last April.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, editing by Louise Heavens)