Harald Jensen
Harald Jensen specializes in growth and development for companies interested in entering the water and wastewater sector or expanding their presence in that market, through M&A advisory, strategy development, and complex project pursuit and management services.
Harald brings over 25 years of business experience in the environmental services sector, including senior positions with Veolia, where he led the company’s business and corporate development activities in North America for the municipal water and utility segment; and with American Water, the largest regulated water company in the US.
Harald has led business development and M&A departments of up to 25 professionals and project teams of up to 40 professionals. He led the development and closing of several market leading transactions including large O&M agreements and BOTs as well as complex PPP transactions involving project finance. Previously he worked for Enron in business development and transaction structuring, where he closed multiple energy commodity management deals; and before that with WBI, a consultancy developing international business for companies in the water sector.
Since 2017 he has been providing business advisory services to financial investors and industrial companies. His expertise includes transactions involving water utility and operations companies (regulated and non-regulated), and large, complex assets or structures such as PPPs and other alternative delivery mechanisms.
Harald has also served as a Board member for a large water operations company.
Philippe Laval
Philippe Laval has over 35 years of leadership experience in operations and technology companies in the water industry in the USA, Europe, the UK, Australia, China and Latin America. Mr. Laval has worked more than 20 years for Veolia Water, the global leader in the water industry, almost 5 years for Fluence and RWL Water, one of the most innovative US based mid-size water treatment company and most recently 5 years for Grundfos, the global leader in pump solutions.
In 2002, Mr. Laval served as Managing Director of United Water International, a joint venture between Veolia, Thames Water and KBR, based in Adelaide, Australia. In 2005, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Veolia Water North America, based in Houston, TX where he was responsible for 3,000 employees and a $600 million municipal and industrial business in the USA and Canada.
In 2007, Mr. Laval served as Veolia’s Chief Executive Officer of Industrial Solutions in North and Latin America. In particular, he led the implementation and development of the industrial solutions activities in North America with the acquisition, integration and development of Crown Solutions in Dayton, OH. In 2010, Mr. Laval was appointed Managing Director of Veolia Industrial Outsourcing in Europe and Turkey.
In 2014, Mr Laval joined RWL Water in New York as their Chief Operating Officer. RWL Water became Fluence in 2018 following the merger with Emefcy, an innovative water treatment company in Israel. Mr Laval was responsible for RWL and Fluence operations in the US, Europe, the Middle East, China and Latin America.
In 2018, Mr Laval decided to pursue his own ventures and actively supported clients in Saudi Arabia, Europe and the US.
In 2019, he joined Grundfos to support the company diversification in water treatment and led the development and management of a 300mEUR platform formed by the acquisition of Eurowater, a leading clean water company in Denmark and Europe, Meco, a leading US and global company in ultra pure water solutions for Pharmaceutical companies, Water Works, a San Diego based Company providing pure water solutions to biotech companies in California and the commercial and industrial part of Culligan in Europe.
REFERENCES
Market Development Strategy
- Development of go to market water and wastewater strategies in North America for US and international companies
- Diversification strategy including acquisitions, business plan and due diligence support for water equipment companies in the US and Europe
M&A
- Origination, development and closing of M&A targets in the non-regulated O&M sector
- Strategic advice on financial investments in the US regulated water sector
Complex Project Development
- Development of multiple BOTs in North and South America ranging from $40m to $200m+
- Development and closing of multiple strategic partnerships valued at up to $1bn with major North American municipal utilities for a water company
Governance and Optimization
- Board seat and related oversight services of a large European water and wastewater operator
- Development and implementation of an efficiency improvement / operations optimization program for utilities; model implemented in several major utilities in North America
- Steering committee seats and associated governance for operational improvement projects with major North American utilities