VA Tech Wabag Ltd. is an Indian

multinational company A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

focussed on

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

and

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, ...

for municipal and industrial users. Founded in Breslau in 1924, the company is headquartered in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

History

Wabag

In 1924, Max Reder started Wabag Wasserfilter-Bau AG in Breslau,

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

(now

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland).

Deutsche Babcock Deutsche Babcock AG (full name: ''Deutsche Babcock & Wilcox Dampfkessel Werke Aktien-Gesellschaft'') was a German manufacturing company based in Oberhausen in the Ruhr District, the center of the German economy. The company was established in 189 ...

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 AG (SGP), founded as Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG für Maschinen-, Kessel- und Waggonbau, was an important Austrian machine and engine factory, manufacturing: machinery, boilers and rail vehicles. It was established in 1941 thr ...

(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 Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane, semi-permeable membrane to separate water molecules from other substances. RO applies pressure to overcome osmotic pressure that favors even distribu ...

desalinization Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is soil desalination. This is important for agriculture. It is possible ...

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 () is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town, once a stronghold of the Principality of Bayreuth, is renowned for its University of Life Sciences, a branch of the University of Bayreuth, the massive Plasse ...

started a

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

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 Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

branches.

VA Tech Wabag

In 1999, VA Technologie (a spinoff from VOEST Alpine) 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 Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

approved separating the operations other than water from Balcke Dürr & Wabag Technologies Ltd., whose India operations began in 1995. On 14 July 2005, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

approved an offer by Siemens AG Österreich for 97.15 of VA Technologie AG for about one billion

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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 Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

, though the VAI unit would operate separately with a

Linz, Austria Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

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 A squeeze-out or squeezeout, sometimes synonymous with '' freeze-out'', is the compulsory sale of the shares of minority shareholders of a joint-stock company for which they receive a fair cash compensation. This technique allows one or more share ...

was planned, with VA Tech being

delisted In corporate finance, a listing refers to the company's shares being on the list (or board) of stock that are publicly listed. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, subject to conditions. ...

. Because of

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

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 is an international technology group, offering plants, equipment, systems and services for various industries. The group's headquarters are in Graz, Austria. The group gets its name from the district of Andritz (Graz), Andritz in whi ...

bought the

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

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, Rajiv Mittal headed a management group along with ICICI Venture bought out the Chennai-based VA Tech India, a VA Tech Wabag GmbH subsidiary started in 1996. In 2007, VA Tech India acquired the erstwhile Austrian parent from Siemens for about $100 million. The deal was completed 6 November 2007. In 2008, Wabag Water Services SRL in

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

, Romania and Wabag Water Services Limited in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

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 was listed in the Indian stock exchanges - National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

References

External links

* {{Chennai topics Construction and civil engineering companies of Austria Companies based in Chennai Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1924 Construction and civil engineering companies of India Indian companies established in 1924 German companies established in 1924 Indian companies established in 1995 Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange