In 2017, the water industry completed more than US$2.11 billion of investor-owned utility (IOU) acquisitions — across 90 deals. Another 65 pending deals worth US$308 million are still awaiting regulatory approval.

This represents a US$1.5 billion increase in deal values over 2016. 2017 was the strongest year, within the timeframe of Bluefield’s four-year analysis in terms of deal flow, total transaction values and number of customers added, all of which have been steadily increasing over the years.

2017  highlights include:

• EverSource Energy purchased Aquarion Water for US$1.7 billion.
• American Water’s US$159 million acquisition of the McKeesport wastewater system
• NW Natural made two utility acquisitions
• The City of Missoula, Montana re-municipalized its water system

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