VA Tech Wabag
Encyclopedia
VA Tech Wabag GmbH is a multinational company with dual headquarters in Chennai, India and Vienna, Austria.
Founded in 1924, the company is the largest in the world specializing in water treatment
for municipal and industrial users. The company has completed a total of 6000 projects.
. Deutsche Babcock
became majority shareholder of Wabag in 1973 and eventually took over the entire company.
Julius Overhoff's water treatment company, founded in 1930, became part of Austrian Simmering-Graz-Pauker
(SGP) AG in 1987.
In 1989, SGP's Energy and Environmental Technology Division and VA Finalindustrie merged, becoming SGP VA Energie- und Umwelttechnik, which merged in 1992 with Environmental Technology Division of Waagner Biro
AG to form Austrian Energy & Environment SGP/Waagner Biro GmbH, the biggest energy firm in Austria. In 1996, Austrian Energy bought Tetra Industrietechnik and the environmental business of Sulzer Chemtech AG
, and in 1997, Austrian Energy bought the reverse osmosis
desalinization unit of Elin Energieversorgung and 70 percent of the shares of Puraqua shares from Energie Steirmark. VA Tech/Austrian Energy bought the remaining 30 percent of Puraqua in 1999.
During the 1990s, Wabag Kulmbach
started a Leipzig
subsidiary, purchased Water Engineering, Ltd., a British
company, and the Belgian company STEP including a Tunisia
branch, and bought an interest in AEW ESMIL. Also in the 1990s, Wabag added Salzburg
and Brno
branches.
, and Böhler-Uddeholm
. Of these, VA Technologie was the first to make an initial public offer
on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
VA Technologie, a technology and services company based in Linz, Austria, had four areas of business: metallurgy
, power generation
, Transmission
and distribution
, and infrastructure
. The metallurgy segment included Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau
(VAI), which began as the Voest-Alpine plant building unit but became a separate company in 1956.
In 1998, Elin Energieversorgung GmbH, a unit of VA Technologie, purchased the electrical transmission and distribution of Rolls Royce
.
approved separating the operations other than water from Balcke Dürr & Wabag Technologies Ltd., whose India operations began in 1995.
On July 14, 2005, The EU Commission approved an offer by Siemens AG Österreich
for 97.15 of VA Technologie AG for about one billion euro
s.
In 2004, the metallurgy, power transmission and distribution and infrastructure units, which became part of Siemens, totalled 3 billion euros. These units, employing about 13,000, added to Siemens' significant presence in Austria. The acquisition gave Siemens potential growth in Eastern Europe.
VAI became part of the Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S), headquartered in Erlangen, Germany, though the VAI unit would operate separately with a Linz, Austria headquarters. VAI had dealt with technical solutions for building plants for iron, steel and aluminum, while Siemens made electrotechnical equipment. Both areas would be in one company as a result of the merger.
The VA Tech power transmission and distribution unit became part of the Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Group, headquartered in Erlangen.
The infrastructure business (VA Tech Elin EBG and ai informatics) made Siemens "the largest Austrian provider of electrotechnical equipment, systems and services for industry, building and communal infrastructure, and for IT services".
A squeeze out
was planned, with VA Tech being delisted.
Because of antitrust
concerns, Siemens had to sell VA Tech's power generation unit, which had 2004 sales of 900 million euros and about 3000 employees. Andritz AG
bought the hydroelectric power division in 2006 for an estimated 200 million euros. The VA Tech Hydro unit changed its name to Andritz VA Tech Hydro GmbH and became a subsidiary of Andritz AG.
Also in 2005, ICICI Venture
became majority owner of Chennai, India-based VA Tech India, a VA Tech Wabag GmbH subsidiary started in 1996. Rajiv Mittal headed a management group which took the minority share. In 2007, VA Tech India acquired the Austrian parent from Siemens for about $100 million. The deal was completed November 6, 2007.
In 2008, Wabag Water Services SRL in Ploiesti, Romania and Wabag Water Services Limited in Macao
were incorporated.
In 2009, Mittal's management team owned 38 percent, and ICICI owned 31 percent, of VA Tech Wabag. The company incorporated a China
subsidiary.
In 2010, Va Tech Wabag filed for an IPO
in order to submit bids for Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) water treatment projects and for starting the company's information technology
unit.
, Christmas
, Onam
, Thai pongal, Thaipusam
, Karthikai Deepam
and the like.
Founded in 1924, the company is the largest in the world specializing in water treatment
Water treatment
Water treatment describes those processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses. The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or reduce the...
for municipal and industrial users. The company has completed a total of 6000 projects.
Wabag
In 1924, Max Reder started Wabag Wasserfilter-Bau in Breslau, GermanyWroclaw
Wrocław , situated on the River Oder , is the main city of southwestern Poland.Wrocław was the historical capital of Silesia and is today the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Over the centuries, the city has been part of either Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, or Germany, but since 1945...
. Deutsche Babcock
Deutsche Babcock
Deutsche Babcock AG was a German manufacturing company based in Oberhausen in the Ruhr District, the center of the German economy. The company was established in 1898 as a German subsidiary of the British boilermaking company Babcock and Wilcox, Limited...
became majority shareholder of Wabag in 1973 and eventually took over the entire company.
Julius Overhoff's water treatment company, founded in 1930, became part of Austrian Simmering-Graz-Pauker
Simmering-Graz-Pauker
Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG was one of the most important Austrian industrial conglomerates, which used to have several thousand employees all around the world.-Images:Heute das ist SIemmens SGP 2007...
(SGP) AG in 1987.
In 1989, SGP's Energy and Environmental Technology Division and VA Finalindustrie merged, becoming SGP VA Energie- und Umwelttechnik, which merged in 1992 with Environmental Technology Division of Waagner Biro
Waagner Biro
Waagner-Biro is a Vienna, Austria-based corporation which owns companies in steel and mechanical engineering. It has about 1000 employees in 14 locations in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.-Businesses:...
AG to form Austrian Energy & Environment SGP/Waagner Biro GmbH, the biggest energy firm in Austria. In 1996, Austrian Energy bought Tetra Industrietechnik and the environmental business of Sulzer Chemtech AG
Sulzer (manufacturer)
Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly owned company with international subsidiaries...
, and in 1997, Austrian Energy bought the reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis is a membrane technical filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane. The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and...
desalinization unit of Elin Energieversorgung and 70 percent of the shares of Puraqua shares from Energie Steirmark. VA Tech/Austrian Energy bought the remaining 30 percent of Puraqua in 1999.
During the 1990s, Wabag Kulmbach
Kulmbach
Kulmbach is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town is famous for Plassenburg Castle, which houses the largest tin soldier museum in the world, and for its famous sausages, or Bratwürste.-Location:...
started a Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
subsidiary, purchased Water Engineering, Ltd., a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
company, and the Belgian company STEP including a Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
branch, and bought an interest in AEW ESMIL. Also in the 1990s, Wabag added Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
and Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
branches.
VA Technologie
In 1990, Österreichische Industrieholding AG (Austrian Industry Holding AG) became Austrian Industries AG as it took the first steps toward privatisation. In 1993, three companies formed from Austrian Industries AG: Voest-Alpine Technologie AG, Voest-Alpine Stahl AGVoestalpine
Voestalpine AG is an international steel company based in Linz, Austria. The company is active in steel, automotive, railway systems, profilform and tool steel industries....
, and Böhler-Uddeholm
Böhler-Uddeholm
Böhler-Uddeholm is a large Austrian company specialised in producing tool steel and special forgings. It was formed in 1991 as a result of a merger between the Austrian parastatal Böhler and of Uddeholms AB of Sweden. The company has production sites in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Belgium,...
. Of these, VA Technologie was the first to make an initial public offer
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
VA Technologie, a technology and services company based in Linz, Austria, had four areas of business: metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
, power generation
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
, Transmission
Electric power transmission
Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers...
and distribution
Electricity distribution
File:Electricity grid simple- North America.svg|thumb|380px|right|Simplified diagram of AC electricity distribution from generation stations to consumers...
, and infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
. The metallurgy segment included Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau
Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau
Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau Gmbh & Co. was an engineering, equipment and construction company based in Linz, Austria and had its American headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
(VAI), which began as the Voest-Alpine plant building unit but became a separate company in 1956.
In 1998, Elin Energieversorgung GmbH, a unit of VA Technologie, purchased the electrical transmission and distribution of Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
.
VA Tech Wabag
In 1999, VA Technologie acquired the Wabag Group of Deutsche Babcock, taking over that company's water business. With this purchase, Austrian Energy & Environment became VA Tech Wabag GmbH. VA Tech Wabag Ltd. was formed in 2000, after the Madras High CourtMadras High Court
The Madras High Court is a senior court located at Chennai , in India. The court buildings, which are believed to be the second largest judicial complex in the world, are located near the beach, in one of the city's major business districts....
approved separating the operations other than water from Balcke Dürr & Wabag Technologies Ltd., whose India operations began in 1995.
On July 14, 2005, The EU Commission approved an offer by Siemens AG Österreich
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
for 97.15 of VA Technologie AG for about one billion euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s.
In 2004, the metallurgy, power transmission and distribution and infrastructure units, which became part of Siemens, totalled 3 billion euros. These units, employing about 13,000, added to Siemens' significant presence in Austria. The acquisition gave Siemens potential growth in Eastern Europe.
VAI became part of the Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S), headquartered in Erlangen, Germany, though the VAI unit would operate separately with a Linz, Austria headquarters. VAI had dealt with technical solutions for building plants for iron, steel and aluminum, while Siemens made electrotechnical equipment. Both areas would be in one company as a result of the merger.
The VA Tech power transmission and distribution unit became part of the Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Group, headquartered in Erlangen.
The infrastructure business (VA Tech Elin EBG and ai informatics) made Siemens "the largest Austrian provider of electrotechnical equipment, systems and services for industry, building and communal infrastructure, and for IT services".
A squeeze out
Squeeze out
Squeeze out is a term referring to the compulsory acquisition of the stakes of a small group of shareholders from a joint stock company by means of cash compensation.-Germany:...
was planned, with VA Tech being delisted.
Because of antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
concerns, Siemens had to sell VA Tech's power generation unit, which had 2004 sales of 900 million euros and about 3000 employees. Andritz AG
Andritz AG
Andritz AG is an Austrian plant engineering group headquartered in Graz. The group gets its name from the district Andritz in which it is located.Andritz employs more than 16,100 employees at 35 production and service facilities and 120 subsidiaries...
bought the hydroelectric power division in 2006 for an estimated 200 million euros. The VA Tech Hydro unit changed its name to Andritz VA Tech Hydro GmbH and became a subsidiary of Andritz AG.
Also in 2005, ICICI Venture
ICICI Bank
ICICI Bank Ltd. is India's second largest financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of...
became majority owner of Chennai, India-based VA Tech India, a VA Tech Wabag GmbH subsidiary started in 1996. Rajiv Mittal headed a management group which took the minority share. In 2007, VA Tech India acquired the Austrian parent from Siemens for about $100 million. The deal was completed November 6, 2007.
In 2008, Wabag Water Services SRL in Ploiesti, Romania and Wabag Water Services Limited in Macao
Mação
Mação is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 400.0 km² and a total population of 7,763 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of eight parishes, and is located in the Santarém District....
were incorporated.
In 2009, Mittal's management team owned 38 percent, and ICICI owned 31 percent, of VA Tech Wabag. The company incorporated a China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
subsidiary.
In 2010, Va Tech Wabag filed for an IPO
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
in order to submit bids for Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) water treatment projects and for starting the company's information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
unit.
Work Culture and Environment
This company has since it inception kept a diverse workforce, and in recognition of the diversity, it celebrates all important festivals such as Eid ul-FitrEid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...
, Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, Onam
Onam
Onam is a Hindu festival celebrated by the people of Kerala, India. The festival commemorates the Vamana avatar of Vishnu and the subsequent homecoming of the legendary Emperor Mahabali. It falls during the month of Chingam and lasts for ten days...
, Thai pongal, Thaipusam
Thaipusam
Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai . It is celebrated not only in countries where the Tamil community constitutes a majority, but also in countries where Tamil communities are smaller, such as Singapore and Malaysia...
, Karthikai Deepam
Karthikai deepam
Karthigai Deepam is a festival of lights celebrated by Tamil Hindus on the full moon day of Karthigai month , which is observed in every home and in every temple. This occurs on the day when the moon is in conjunction with the constellation Karthigai and purnima...
and the like.