French waste and water group Suez has boosted its industrial water treatment business with the 3.2 billion euros (2.78 billion pounds) acquisition of GE Water from General Electric.

Chief Executive Jean-Louis Chaussade told reporters on Wednesday the industrial water market was more important than Suez’s traditional municipal water market, because industry accounts for 15-20 percent of global water consumption compared with just 5-8 percent for human consumption in cities (LINK).

 

Press releases, SUEZ
03/08/2017 – SUEZ, together with CDPQ, acquires GE WATER, becoming a major player in the industrial water services market
 Today SUEZ announces that, together with Caisse de dĂ©pĂŽt et placement du QuĂ©bec (“CDPQ”), it has entered into a binding agreement to purchase GE Water & Process Technologies (“GE Water”) from General Electric Company for €3.2Bn enterprise value in an all-cash transaction (LINK).Â