| Type | GmbH |
|---|---|
| Industry | Water and Waste-water Treatment |
| Founded | 1924 |
| Founder(s) | Max Reder |
| Headquarters | Chennai, India Vienna, Vienna |
| Key people | Rajiv Mittal, CEO (India) Erik Göthlin, CEO (Vienna) |
| Products | |
| Services | Operation and Maintenance |
| Parent | VA Tech Wabag, Vienna |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | wabag.com |
VA Tech Wabag GmbH is a multinational company with dual headquarters in Chennai, India and Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1924, the company is the largest in the world specializing in water treatment for municipal and industrial users. The company has completed a total of 6000 projects.
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In 1924, Max Reder started Wabag Wasserfilter-Bau in Breslau, Germany. Deutsche Babcock 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 (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 desalinization 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 started a Leipzig 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 and Brno branches.[1]
In 1990, Österreichische Industrieholding AG (Austrian Industry Holding AG) became Austrian Industries AG as it took the first steps toward privatisation.[2] In 1993, three companies formed from Austrian Industries AG: Voest-Alpine Technologie AG, Voest-Alpine Stahl AG, and Böhler-Uddeholm. Of these, VA Technologie was the first to make an initial public offer on the Vienna Stock Exchange.[3]
VA Technologie, a technology and services company based in Linz, Austria, had four areas of business: metallurgy, power generation, Transmission and distribution, and infrastructure. The metallurgy segment included Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau (VAI), which began as the Voest-Alpine plant building unit but became a separate company in 1956.[4][5][6]
In 1998, Elin Energieversorgung GmbH, a unit of VA Technologie, purchased the electrical transmission and distribution of Rolls Royce.[7]
In 1999, VA Technologie 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 approved separating the operations other than water from Balcke Dürr & Wabag Technologies Ltd., whose India operations began in 1995.[1][8][9]
On July 14, 2005, The EU Commission approved an offer by Siemens AG Österreich for 97.15 of VA Technologie AG for about one billion euros.
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, though the VAI unit would operate separately with a Linz, Austria 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 was planned, with VA Tech being delisted.
Because of antitrust concerns, Siemens had to sell VA Tech's power generation unit, which had 2004 sales of 900 million euros and about 3000 employees.[6] Andritz AG bought the hydroelectric power 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.[10][11] Also in 2005, ICICI Venture became majority owner of Chennai, India-based VA Tech India, a VA Tech Wabag GmbH subsidiary started in 1996. Rajiv Mittal headed a management group which took the minority share. In 2007, VA Tech India acquired the Austrian parent from Siemens for about $100 million.[12][13] The deal was completed November 6, 2007.[14]
In 2008, Wabag Water Services SRL in Ploiesti, Romania and Wabag Water Services Limited in Macao were incorporated.[1][14]
In 2009, Mittal's management team owned 38 percent, and ICICI owned 31 percent, of VA Tech Wabag. The company incorporated a China subsidiary.[15]
In 2010, Va Tech Wabag filed for an IPO in order to submit bids for Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) water treatment projects and for starting the company's information technology unit.[8]
This company has since it inception kept a diverse workforce, and in recognition of the diversity, it celebrates all important festivals such as Eid ul-Fitr, Christmas, Onam, Thai pongal, Thaipusam, Karthikai Deepam and the like.