news
business & market
16
Tube ProducTs InTernaTIonal July 2011
Pipelife plans French acquisition
Pipelife has announced that it plans to
acquire Alphacan’s pipe business in
France.
Alphacan France is a specialist in the
development, production and marketing
of PVC profile and pipe systems for the
building and infrastructure market.
Alphacan’s French building and
infrastructure pipe activity represents
annual sales of around €45mn, and
involves the design, production
and marketing of PVC pipes used
for sanitation and drinking water
underground networks as well as for soil
and waste systems in buildings.
Niels Rune Solgaard-Nielsen, CEO of
the Pipelife Group, commented, “This
step marks an important milestone for
the strategic development of the Group,
aiming at number one or two position
in the markets we are in. The Alphacan
acquisition will make Pipelife the leader
for plastic pipe systems in France, one
of the largest markets in Europe, and
bring the company an important step
closer to reaching this goal.”
Christian Gagné, managing director
of Pipelife France, said, “Alphacan
has a solid customer base, whose
products are perfectly complementing
our own product range. By combining
the production know-how and market
position the synergies are significant and
Pipelife can further develop its plastic
pipe product and system offerings to
the benefit of all customers.”
The operation is subject to the legal
information and consultation process
involving personnel representative
bodies of Alphacan and Pipelife.
The Pipelife Group is a 50/50 joint ven-
ture between Wienerberger and Solvay.
It is one of Europe’s leading plastic
pipes and fittings groups, active in 27
countries and operating 26 factories.
Pipelife International GmbH
– Austria
Water infrastructure specialist
opens regional office
in Canada
Wachs Water Services, a provider of
solutions for the management of aging
water infrastructure in the United States,
has opened a new regional office in
Burlington, Ontario, which is part of the
Greater Toronto Area. The office will be
a regional hub for project management,
field technicians, partner training and
customer support to the company’s
expanding client base in Canada.
The company has worked with over
200 clients in the US over the past
decade and is experiencing a rapid rate
of growth due to its unique solution
offerings. The company works closely
with utilities to help them understand the
condition and operability of aging water
network assets such as distribution and
transmission mains, valves, hydrants
and critical GPS mapping and CMMS
information. Each phase of a Wachs
Water Services infrastructure renewal
approach provides utilities with critical
information which can be immediately
applied to help reduce the number and
impact of water main breaks, minimise
non-revenue water loss, reduce taste
and odour complaints and provide a
strategy for targeted water infrastructure
rehabilitation
and
replacement
investments based on actual asset
information.
“Canadian utilities are very progressive,
and our new regional office will
enable us to provide a wide range of
water infrastructure renewal services
throughout this important region,” said
Cliff Wilson, president of Wachs Water
Services. “I’m excited that we have
already completed our first pipeline
condition assessment project in Canada.
The market has responded with a high
level of enthusiasm to the Investigator™
and LDS1000™ technology advantages
which we offer.”
To meet the growing needs of the
Canadian market, Wachs Water Services
has also expanded its business develop-
ment team. William ‘Bill’ Jappy has been
appointed region business development
manager for Canada with a focus on
Atlantic, Central and Prairie Provinces.
Mr Jappy has a proven track record in the
water pipeline industry, where he held a
client manager role at the Pressure Pipe
Inspection Company (PPIC), focusing
on leak detection and pipeline condition
assessment for a variety of industry
verticals including utilities, new pipeline
installation and emergency services,
power generation and manufacturing.
Prior to PPIC, he held a senior level
position with the Quality Management
Institute (QMI) of Canada.
Doug Roy has been appointed as the
western region business development
manager and is responsible for
providing key account management
to water providers and municipal
clients in California, Arizona, Nevada,
Oregon, Washington, British Columbia
and Alberta. Mr Roy is a professional
engineer with over 23 years of water
and wastewater experience, working
as a consulting engineer, a regulatory
engineer, a business development
manager and sales manager. Mr Roy
previously held management positions
with Schlumberger Water Services and
WaterTrax Data Management Solutions.
Earlier this year Wachs Water Services
announced a strategic memorandum
of understanding (MOU) with Veritec
Consulting Inc, a Miya Group company
based in Mississauga, Ontario. Veritec
provides services to the Canadian and
US water and wastewater industry
including water efficiency programmes,
efficiency product testing, flow and
pressuremonitoring,hydrantflowtesting,
hydraulic modelling, metering and AMR,
water loss and leakage reduction, sewer
flow monitoring, infiltration and inflow
and system optimisation. Under the
terms of the MOU, the scope of the
strategic alliance will include joint field
training and cooperative marketing to
customers and channels throughout the
United States, Canada, Mexico and the
Caribbean.
Wachs Water services
– USA
