Japanese Trading House Marubeni sets its sight on becoming a Top 10 Global Water Company

Marubeni,one of Japan’s largest trading companies has set its sight on becoming a top 10 global water service company.Note Japanese companies have been making large investments into new economy sectors like Wind,Battery,Electric Vehicles,Solar Energy etc.Sumitomo and Mitsui have already expanded their reach into Green Industry sectors like Batteries,Carbon Trading and Solar Thermal.Japanese Industrial Giants like Sharp,Toshiba,Kyocera,Mitsubishi are already present or making plans of entering Green Sectors as well.

Marubeni on the other hand is looking to focus its energy on the crucial Water Service Sector be expanding its footprint in emerging markets.Water Service is a great growth sector due to numerous demand drivers like increasing population,larger per capita requirements,decreased supply.There is already a lot of theories floating around that the next big wars in the 21st century will be due to water shortages.Marubeni has plans to spend around $300 million in acquisitions in foreign markets as it looks to increase its customer base to 10 million.Note Marubeni will be helped by the Japanese government which gives considerable aid and soft loan for water infrastructure projects in developing countries.Note French companies Suez and Veolia are the biggest water service companies in the world.

Marubeni to Spend $297 Million to Double Water Assets

Marubeni Corp., the Japanese owner of Chile’s third-biggest water company, will spend 25 billion yen ($297 million) to double the size of its international water assets in two years.

Marubeni, based in Tokyo, plans to buy water-service companies in Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East as well as add to assets in Chile and China to double the number of people it supplies to 10 million by March 2013, said Yoji Ibuki, head of Marubeni’s environment infrastructure unit.