MIYA WATER acquired by BRIDGEPOINT

Bridgepoint agreed on 28 January 2019 to acquire Miya, the Luxembourg-incorporated water efficiency company, from Arison Investments, at an enterprise value of . It was the first investment made from Bridgepoint Europe VI, a fund closed at 5.7 billion euros in 2017, and the deal was led from Madrid by partner Héctor Pérez. Shari Arison had created Miya in 2008 as a subsidiary of Arison Investments, which had put around 100 million dollars into the business over the following decade. The sale formed part of a wider disposal of the Arison Group’s holdings, which also included Bank Hapoalim, Shikun u’Binui and, a fortnight earlier, the Salt of the Earth company sold to Fortissimo. At the time of the deal, Miya employed 600 people and operated from dual headquarters in Madrid and Oporto, alongside its Luxembourg registered office. Its largest division, Indaqua, which it had bought in 2016, ran water and wastewater concessions for seven utilities in northwest Portugal, covering 1,000 square kilometres and a distribution network serving more than 600,000 residents. Chief executive Amit Horman and his team stayed to lead the company. Héctor Pérez said Bridgepoint had been impressed by the operational performance delivered across a diverse set of water infrastructure systems, while Shari Arison said she believed Bridgepoint, the management and the employees would carry on the vision behind the company. Bridgepoint sold Miya to Antin Infrastructure Partners the following year, after appointing Citi in June 2020 to run the sale.