Estelle Brachlianoff, General Manager of Veolia, summed up the stakes of this sale:
“We salute Lydec’s contribution to the development of essential water and wastewater services in Morocco for more than 27 years. This sale will ensure a smooth transition for the benefit of local populations and support the establishment of the new Regional Multiservice Companies“
In line with the commitments made to the Moroccan competition authorities, Veolia announces that it has reached an agreement with the Moroccan authorities to sell its entire stake in Lydec (Lyonnaise des eaux de Casablanca), acquired when Suez took control in 2022, to Regional multi-service company Casablanca-Settat. Veolia’s ambition is to become the benchmark company for ecological transformation. Present on five continents with nearly 218,000 employees, the Group designs and deploys useful and concrete solutions for water, waste and energy management that help to radically change the world. Through its three complementary activities, Veolia contributes to developing access to resources, preserving available resources and renewing them.
In 2023, the Veolia group served 113 million people with drinking water and 103 million with wastewater services, produced 42 terawatt-hours of energy and recovered 63 million metric tons of waste. Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE) generated consolidated sales of 49.1 US dollars (45.3 billion euros) in 2023. Following this transaction, which is expected to close by the end of 2024 after all necessary administrative approvals have been obtained, Veolia will remain a major partner of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Active in water and electricity distribution thanks to its contracts in Rabat, Tangiers and Tetouan. Lydec, on the other hand provides delegated management of public services for the distribution of drinking water, electricity, sanitation and public lighting for the city of Casablanca and its region. It should be noted that the sale of Lydec, which had been anticipated, has no impact on Veolia’s 2024 financial guidelines or on the objectives of its GreenUp strategic plan.
About (Lydec)
Committed since 1997 to providing electricity, drinking water, sanitation and public lighting services to Greater Casablanca, which is home to almost one-fifth of Morocco’s urban population and more than half of the country’s industrial potential, Lydec contributes directly to the region’s sustainable development, providing quality services on a daily basis to citizens and economic players in a spirit of efficiency, innovation and partnership. The Group operates in the Casablanca, Mohammedia and Aïn Harrouda regions. Sales by activity are as follows: electricity distribution (73.3%), with a network of 9,535 km at the end of 2019; drinking water distribution (20.8%), 158 million m3 sold through a network of 6,667 km, with 19 pumping stations and 36 reservoirs and water towers (667,130 m3 of storage) at the end of 2019; wastewater services (5.9%), with 142 lifting stations and 2 pre-treatment stations. All sales are generated in Morocco, with 3117 employees.
