ATLANTA & STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 2006--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.
Contacts
GE Energy Financial Services
Andy Katell, 203-961-5773
Britta Kons
GE Healthcare Global Services
[email protected]
1-203-400-1892