Expanding into an industry requiring major
infrastructure investment, GE Energy Financial Services announced
today that it has formed a team concentrating on the water market and
that it has made its first investment: $18 million in a
state-of-the-art wastewater reclamation plant near Atlanta.
The new water team offers structured equity and customized debt
finance for existing assets and projects under development in the
commercial, industrial and municipal infrastructure water, reuse and
wastewater treatment markets worldwide.
"We've entered the water investing market because it's a major
growth opportunity for us, takes advantage of our strengths in project
finance and our leveraged balance sheet, and benefits from GE's
expertise in water technology," said Alex Urquhart, President and CEO
of GE Energy Financial Services. "It is also in the spirit of GE's
ecomagination initiative, our pledge to help our customers solve
environmental problems, in this case by increasing water supplies."
The water team at GE Energy Financial Services estimates the
worldwide water private project finance market at $50 billion, as
water scarcity and quality concerns intensify.
"We approach the water market with a long-term investment horizon,
backed by GE's expertise and reputation in industry-leading technology
and solutions," said Kevin McCarthy, Managing Director and leader of
GE Energy Financial Services' water team. "We will invest in projects
using a wide range of technology."
The team's first investment, for a 90 percent limited partnership
role, is in the Cauley Creek Water Reclamation Facility, owned by
privately held Cauley Creek Water Reclamation LLC. The four-year-old
facility, 30 miles northeast of Atlanta near rapidly growing
communities that put increasing pressure on wastewater plants, was
designed to look like a barn to blend in with its pastoral
surroundings. Its highly treated water is so clean it's used for
irrigating residential developments, churches, golf courses and other
businesses, reducing demand on the drinking water system as well as
withdrawals from the Chattahoochee River.
With a capacity of five million gallons per day and a long-term
wastewater treatment contract with Fulton County in a public/private
partnership, Cauley Creek is the largest satellite water reclamation
plant in North America using technology by ZENON, a company GE
acquired last month. Zenon's ZeeWeed(R) ultrafiltration immersed
membrane replaces the solids separation function of clarifiers and
sand filers in conventional plants.
About GE Energy Financial Services
GE Energy Financial Services' 300 experts invest globally with a
long-term view, across the capital spectrum and the energy and water
industries, to help their customers and GE grow. With $13 billion in
assets, GE Energy Financial Services, based in Stamford, Connecticut,
invests more than $3 billion annually in two of the world's most
capital-intensive industries, energy and water. More information:
www.geenergyfinancialservices.com
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work -- a diversified technology,
media and financial services company focused on solving some of the
world's toughest problems. With products and services ranging from
aircraft engines, power generation, water processing and security
technology to medical imaging, business and consumer financing, media
content and advanced materials, GE serves customers in more than 100
countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more
information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com.
