US Filter, WMX Join Forces to Form Corporate Water/Wastewater Powerhouse

Two more important acquisition/joint venture moves have been made by Palm Desert, California-based, US Filter Corporation, which now reportedly has acquired 48 businesses in six years. Chairman and CEO Richard J. Heckmann said "This makes us a $2 billion global water company," compared with the $17 million revenue base the firm had six years ago. Heckmann added, "It puts us absolutely in the lead. We are the largest water treatment company on the globe."

In the acquisition transaction, US Filter will take over all the industrial water process and manufacturing units of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. for $385 million in cash. Based in Hampton, Hew Hampshire, Wheelabrator is a subsidiary of WMX Technologies, Inc. of Oakbrook, Illinois, which is a diversified global environmental technologies company.

The second action involves a joint venture agreement in principle between US Filter and Wheelabrator to set up a new, 50-50 company to develop, finance, own and operate water and wastewater facilities in North America. To be based in Oakbrook, the yet-to-be-named company is expected to have about $100 million in annual revenues initially, and operate more than 200 municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment plants. Wheelabrator's EOS contract operations unit will be a key player in the joint company.

By buying Wheelabrator's manufacturing companies, US Filter is adding a broad range of water/wastewater technologies and people skills to its stable. Wheelabrator has about 1,000 employees in the United States and 1,200 abroad. Six of its units are: HPD in Naperville, Illinois; Johnson Screens in New Brighton, Minnesota; CPC Engineering in Sturbridge, Massachusetts; and Wiesemann, Memtek, and Westates Carbon.

In an additional comment, Richard Heckmann said that these corporate actions will strengthen US Filter's position as "the leading one-stop shop for water services and technology." Phillip B. Rooney, CEO of WMX and Wheelabrator, said that the agreement will allow Wheelabrator to concentrate on municipal public-private partnerships and industrial out-sourcing customers.

These latest acquisitions come almost on the heels of US Filter's addition of N/A, N/A, and N/A, to its corporate family.