Mergers and acquisitions experts know this well: “No joy without enjoyment”, the perfect Albion adage, can appear on the pediment of the “Competition and Markets Authority” (CMA), which is the “bobby” of the competition. However, Veolia does not allow the cloud of British distrust to rise any more, which has been hovering over their joint happiness, won after sixteen months of hard fighting in annexation with Suez.

The French tandem had taken the lion’s share of waste management across the channel in a decade, and the group led by Antoine Freirot knew from the beginning that discussions with the CMA would not center around a cup of tea. But like Mauriac with Germany, it loves the tricolor so much that it prefers to have two representatives on its soil.

By his “inaction”, which he condemns, the new champion of “ecological change” is creating a financial opportunity. At 15 to 20 times the Ebitda, on which infrastructure and “private equity” funds value this type of activity, the resale of Suez waste (about 2% of the group’s turnover) is allowed, bringing it to €2.5 to 3.4 billion. to recover its costs, to obtain immediately the value of synergies required in this country and elsewhere, particularly in energy. “Better day, better job”, as they say throughout the channel…

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