Compagnie Generale des Eaux
1852 Compagnie Générale des Eaux was founded.
1860 The company secured a 50-year contract to supply water to Paris and its suburbs.
late 1960s Acquired Associated Heat Services plc
1981 Profits reach FFr 331 million. Compagnie Générale d'Electricité purchased a 15 percent stake in Compagnie Générale des Eaux.
1983 Saint-Gobain was forced by the French government to cut its stake in the firm.
1987 Established General Utilities as its holding company for its interests in the UK water industry.
1988 Acquired Société Générale d'Entreprise, which had been owned by Compagnie Générale d'Electricité, thereby giving the group a major position in France's construction industry. Phenix, Seeri, and Sari added to Compagnie Générale des Eaux's command in this area, with projects such as the La Defense building in Paris. In Paris, the company cleaned the Louvre, the Métro, the Ministry of Finance, and the Museé d'Orsay art gallery, and collected waste for Peugeot, Air France, the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français), and Nestlé.
1988 Acquired Lee Valley Water Co and North Surrey Water Co, and later Tendring Hundred Waterworks Co and Folkestone and District Water Company.
1989 Compagnie Générale des Eaux bought shares in a number of smaller British water companies, including Three Valleys, Mid-Kent, Severn and Trent, and Bristol, and looked to the wider areas of energy, waste, healthcare, construction, and cable television to establish a foothold in Britain.
1990 When British electricity companies were privatized, Compagnie Générale des Eaux dropped some of its water interests and bought into Associated Electricity.
Purchased American Medical International's chain of private hospitals in Britain in March 1990 and an 83 percent stake in Norwest Holst.
1991 Television franchises in Britain were put up for sale, Compagnie Générale des Eaux bought shares in a number of cable television operations.
1991 Its U.K. waste company Onyx announced a seven-year rubbish collection contract with the city of Liverpool, the latest of twenty such contracts with municipalities all over Britain.
1996 Reorganization began in order to focus on the environmental and communication-related businesses; began selling over $25 billion in other holdings.
1998 The company changed its name to Vivendi.
2000 After merging with CANAL+ and the Seagram Company Ltd., the firm took on the name Vivendi Universal S.A.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Company histories