Setting the course for further international business activities

Supervisory board adopts three-pillar model
Berlin – Berlinwasser International AG’s supervisory board has approved plans for developing the company’s international water and wastewater business activities and voted in support of the company’s strategic and structural orientation. “With this resolution, we have decided to set up a new profile for BWI AG, as Germany’s most successful active operator of water and wastewater related systems,” explained Dieter Ernst, chairman of BWI AG’s board for several years now. With the new profile, BWI will continue to market the diverse competences of the Berlinwasser Group internationally.

Development of dynamic new business
“BWI’s future activities will be based on three pillars,” said Dieter Ernst, whose contract was recently renewed. “Our primary objective will be to develop dynamic new business in the area of our core competences – operation, leasing and management contracts and international consulting and training – and, with it, to generate positive contributions to operating income quite rapidly. In support of this prospect, BWI points to a growing demand for its core competences; contracts worth around USD 190 billion are issued in this segment every year. Dieter Ernst: “Our well-tested collaboration with financial institutions, such as the World Bank, EBRD, KfW Entwicklungsbank, ADB and regional development banks, constitutes a good basis from which to compete successfully in international tenders and bring contracts home to Berlin.

Profitable Investments
The second pillar consists of the long-term international equity investments held by BWI AG, which, as environmental projects, also pay for themselves from the standpoint of the regional companies. “Our long-term investments in China and Hungary, in particular, are already bearing good fruit for our company and for our stockholders,” says Dieter Ernst, assessing the current investments. BWI will look to close cooperation with financial investors for projects involving capital investments.

Working together to achieve more
The third pillar is formed by the strengths and knowledge of our staff, who contribute crucially to putting Berlin’s water expertise to work in the international water and wastewater business far beyond Germany’s borders, particularly in collaboration with Berliner Wasserbetriebe, the core of the Berlinwasser Group. Asset evaluation in Abu Dhabi; strategies for sewage sludge treatment, non-revenue water and IT in China; well management in Brazil and the enhancement of institutional capacities for local waster suppliers in new EU member states are all examples of this. “We have established a good reputation with our water and wastewater projects as a German operator and technology partner. The business plan we have just approved will provide an excellent foundation on which continue expanding our business activities,” Dieter Ernst explained.

BWI in brief
Berlinwasser International AG is a joint stock company active in international water markets. As one of Germany’s leading service provider we are focussing on the management and operation of drinking water supply and wastewater disposal systems. Using public-private partnership models, Berlinwasser International AG offers extensive infrastructural and consulting competencies to investment and development projects. The company’s services include the elaboration and implementation of operations management and management contracts, consulting activities and collaboration with financial investors. BWI’s active portfolio includes concessions as well as BOT and TOT projects, the management of which is the responsibility of the company’s headquarters in Berlin.