Infrastructure Investments

SAUR

Activity:

The Saur Group is one of the three historic leaders in outsourced management of services for local authorities in the fields of water and waste management in France.
In France, the Saur Group manages approximately 5,700 water contracts. It serves 5.5 million consumers in over 6,700 municipalities.
In waste management, Saur Group manages over 1,000 contracts in household waste collection, thus servicing over 5 millions inhabitants.
The Saur Group is also one of the leaders on the French market for the design/construction of infrastructures linked to water treatment. On 31 March 2007, 55 stations were in construction, including some of the biggest projects in France. Stereau notably constructs purification stations in Paris and Lyon.
For the financial year ending on 31 March 2007, the Saur Group posted net revenues (*) of €1.45 billion, and employed 12,400 employees.

History:

AXA invested in the Saur Group in April 2007 when PAI investment fund resold it to AXA, the Séché Environnement industrial group and the Caisse des dépôts et consignations.
AXA Private Equity has a 20% equity stake in HIME (Holding des Métiers de l’Environnement – Environment Sector Holding), the structure created by the three partners to carry out this investment.

Strategy:

AXA Private Equity and its partners would like to accompany the development of the Saur Group in the long term. Saur offers good visibility on future business developments due in particular to the contracts that it manages in the water sector, the average life of which is over 10 years.