Allens acted for Veolia Environnement (Veolia), a French publicly listed provider of water, waste and energy management services in securing ACCC and FIRB clearance for its €12.9bn acquisition of Suez, also a French publicly listed provider of water and waste management services. The acquisition completed in January 2022 with the final divestiture sale completing on 9 April 2022.
'We are pleased to have acted for Veolia in such a significant acquisition and it was a pleasure to work with Chief Legal Officer, Jane Sandilands, the team at Veolia Australia and also with Veolia France on this matter,' said lead competition partner, Carolyn Oddie.
The transaction attracted significant scrutiny from the ACCC and resulted in a complex and lengthy review. The ACCC cleared the transaction after Veolia agreed to sell water assets and commercial and industrial waste assets in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.
The transaction was also subject to review by 17 other competition authorities including the European Commission. Review by the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority is ongoing.
The transaction won the Global Competition Review 2022 Merger Control Matter of the Year for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa Region.
