Veolia Environnement Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

We are a leading global provider of environmental management services, which include the supply of water, the treatment and recovery of municipal or industrial effluent, waste collection, processing and recycling, the supply of heating and cooling services and the optimization of industrial processes. Our clients include a wide range of public authorities, industrial and commercial services customers and individuals around the world.

The legal and commercial name of our Company is “Veolia Environnement.” Our Company is a société anonyme, a form of limited liability corporation, incorporated in 1995 pursuant to the French Commercial Code for a term of 99 years (i.e., until December 18, 2094). Our registered office is located at 36/38, avenue Kléber, 75116 Paris, France, and the phone number of that office is (+33 1) 71 75 00 00. Our agent in the United States is Terri Anne Powers, Director of North American Investor Relations, 200 East Randolph Street, Suite 7900, Chicago, Illinois 60601—USA, and the phone number of that office is (+1) 312-552-2890.

Our operations are conducted through three divisions, each specializing in a single business sector: Veolia Eau (Water), Veolia Energie (Dalkia, Energy Services) and Veolia Propreté (Environmental Services). When referring to the activities of our divisions, we refer to the division names, and when referring to entities within our Group, we refer to their legal names. Through these divisions, we provide drinking water to 94 million people and treat wastewater for 62 million people in the world, process nearly 52.1 million tons of waste, and satisfy the energy requirements of hundreds of thousands of buildings for our industrial, public authority and private individual customers. We also develop services combining several Group businesses, both by using a combination of individual contracts or by combining services within a single multi-service contract. We are also active in the Transportation business conducted through Transdev, which is 50% owned by us and 50% owned by the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, a French state-owned financial institution. However, we remained committed to our withdrawal from the Transportation business. In addition, on March 25, 2014, we signed an agreement to acquire EDF’s interest in the international activities of Dalkia, our Energy Services affiliate, and to transfer to EDF our interest in Dalkia’s French activities (we will also make a cash payment to EDF in connection with this transaction). Starting on the closing date of this transaction, Dalkia France’s results of operations and financial condition will no longer be reflected in our consolidated financial statements, while Dalkia International will be fully consolidated rather than being accounted for by the equity method. The closing of the transaction is subject to approval by competition authorities and other customary conditions.

Historical Background

Our Company traces its roots back to the creation of Compagnie Générale des Eaux by Imperial Decree on December 14, 1853. During the same year, Compagnie Générale des Eaux won its first public service concession for the distribution of water in the city of Lyon, France. We developed our municipal water distribution activities in France by obtaining concessions in Nantes (1854) and Nice (1864), as well as a 50-year concession for Paris (1860) and its suburbs (1869).

In 1980, Compagnie Générale des Eaux reorganized its water activities by bringing together all of its design, engineering and operating activities relating to drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities within its subsidiary Omnium de Traitement et de Valorisation (OTV). During the 1980s, Compagnie Générale des Eaux expanded its business with the acquisitions of Compagnie Générale d’Entreprises Automobiles (CGEA, which would become CONNEX and ONYX, and later Veolia Transport and Veolia Propreté) and Compagnie Générale de Chauffe and Esys-Montenay (which would merge to become Dalkia). It also began significant international expansion.

In 1998, Compagnie Générale des Eaux changed its name to “Vivendi” and renamed its main water subsidiary “Compagnie Générale des Eaux.”

In April 1999, in order to better distinguish the separate existence of its two main businesses, communications and environmental services, Vivendi created our Company under the name “Vivendi Environnement” to conduct all of its environmental management activities, which were then conducted under the names Vivendi Water (Water), ONYX (Environmental Services), Dalkia (Energy Services) and CONNEX (Transportation).