TPI July 2011

news business & market

Pipelife plans French acquisition Pipelife has announced that it plans to acquire Alphacan’s pipe business in France.

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 info@pipelife.com www.pipelife.com 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.

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

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.

Water infrastructure specialist opens regional office in Canada

“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.

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.

Wachs Water services – USA info@wachsws.com www.wachsws.com

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