Getting Lucky With Water Technologies

by Richard T. Stuebi

For cleantech investors in the water space, one of the most attractive aspects of the water technology sector is that there’s a well-established set of well-heeled companies with strong interests in building their water businesses via acquisitions.  This list includes most prominently General Electric (NYSE: GE), Siemens (NYSE: SI), and Veolia (NYSE: VE):  multi-billion dollar global corporations who are accustomed to buying smaller companies to achieve growth targets.

This list has recently grown:  the Korean conglomerate LG (KSE: 066570.KS), formerly known as Lucky Goldstar, recently announced their intentions to make a major move into water treatment technologies.  Their aspirations are very ambitious:  $400 million allocated for investments to reach a $7 billion revenue target by 2020.

The addition of LG further improves exit dynamics for water tech ventures.  It will be interesting to track M&A activity in the water arena in the coming years.