Deals, Deals, Deals

Deal activity in water is climbing. If activity in the Private Water and Digital Water sectors keep pace, as it has historically over the past few years, this year’s transactions in water will surpass 2020’s 368 transactions. Reese Tisdale talks about deals that are interesting to him and what they mean for the water sector: 1.) NextEra carving out a new water platform with its acquisition of a regulated utility in Texas. While not its first in water, the acquisition of Quadvest, LP falls in line with an emerging water-focused strategy the company has undertaken over the last two years. NextEra’s recent moves into water—acquiring utility assets (Quadvest) and distributed services capabilities (Sustainable Water)—point to a more significant, longer-term strategy that dovetails with its renewable growth playbook. 2.) Inframark acquires Georgia-based O&M services provider, ESG Operations, in a transaction that follows suit with the company’s path to growth through M&A, as well as one that can help grow Inframark’s industrial business. In addition to M&A activity, Bluefield monitors ongoing strategic shifts and market trends of top companies in water and tracks data of global digital water solutions providers. Top takeaways from these analyses: 1.) Q2 2021 numbers show record revenue growth in the water industry, with nine of the 45 tracked companies reporting year-over-year growth over 25.0%. 2.) 45.6% of the digital water companies profiled provide digital solutions for utility asset management or conveyance network operations. Meanwhile, data management, analytics, and cybersecurity have seen the fastest growth in terms of new companies formed.