If the deal goes ahead, Emefcy shareholders will own approximately 66% of Fluence, while RWL founder and owner Ronald S Lauder will hold the remaining 34%. Fluence will continue to be listed on the Australia Stock Exchange.
Israel’s Emefcy manufactures energy-efficient Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor-based (MABR) wastewater treatment solutions. New York-based RWL Water, which was founded in 2010, has grown through a series of acquisitions including Nirosoft Industries Ltd, Aeromix Systems Inc, Eurotec WTT Srl, Unitek SA and Acquavit. Emefcy and RWL Water have been working together recently in a strategic alliance to penetrate the Chinese water treatment market.
Emefcy and RWL Water had combined revenues of US$62 million in 2016.
Fluence, which is expected to be headquartered in New York, will provide products and services for water treatment, wastewater treatment, desalination, waste-to-energy and water reuse and recovery in key growth markets including municipal, commercial, industrial, mining, oil & gas, power, food and beverage. The new company is also planning to merge Emefcy’s and RWL Water’s Israeli businesses into its principal research and production centre in Caesarea, Israel.
Richard Irving, executive chairman of Emefcy, said: “Emefcy has developed breakthrough technology to substantially reduce the cost of wastewater treatment, but has not yet fully developed its distribution and turnkey plant implementation capability. RWL Water has grown rapidly into a world leader in the deployment of water treatment solutions, but now has a new injection of proprietary technologies. This merger is intended to bring together the strengths of both companies, creating impressive synergies that promise to accelerate the already-rapid growth of each company.”
“We believe that should we complete this merger, Fluence would be well positioned as a global leader in the vast market for distributed and packaged total water treatment solutions. Capabilities of the merged group would cover the full water cycle, from desalination to wastewater treatment to wastewater-to-energy and reuse,” said Henry Charrabé, CEO of RWL Water.
When the deal closes, Henry Charrabé, president and CEO of RWL Water, and Philippe Laval, chief operating officer of RWL Water, will become CEO and COO of Fluence, respectively. Eytan Levy, co-founder and CEO of Emefcy, and Ronen Schechter, co-founder of Emefcy, will be appointed president – Products & Innovation and chief technology officer of Fluence, respectively. Bob Wowk, currently CFO of RWL Water, will become CFO of Fluence, while Emefcy’s Ross Kennedy will continue as company secretary.
