Veolia to sell U.K. water business

   Paris-based Veolia Environnement announced that it has reached an agreement with Rift Acquisitions, a joint venture consisting of Prudential and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, under which Veolia will sell the bulk of its regulated water business in the United Kingdom to Rift for ?1.24 billion (about $1.94 billion U.S.). Veolia said that, under the terms of the deal, it will retain a 10% equity interest in the U.K. regulated water operations for a period of at least five years while holding onto the non-regulated water business. The sale is part of parent Veolia’s debt-reduction plan to divest about €5 billion in global assets by the end of 2013 and to withdraw from about half of the 77 countries in which the company has operations. The plan includes the divestiture of Veolia’s solid waste management business in North America. Officials have said that the sale of those operations is still on track to be completed this summer.