Spanish desalination and water treatment company Inima OHL Medio Ambiente has been bought by GS Engineering & Construction, a South Korean company based in Seoul.
GS signed the contract with Inima‘s Spanish parent Obrascón Huarte Lain (OHL) Group on 16 November 2011 and will finalize the acquisition process early next year by taking over all OHL’s shares in Inima for € 231 million.
According to GS, Inima ranks 10th in the global reverse-osmosis desalination plant industry. It had sales of € 130 million last year and has won desalination plant orders from Latin America, Europe and North America worth Won 2 trillion (€ 1.3 billion).
GS said the industry is expected to post annual growth of 17% by 2016 and the deal secured a new growth engine for the company. Although Inima is a Spanish firm, it has expanded to Latin and North America, so GS hopes it will help its expansion to other parts of the world.
Inima announced in September 2011 a contract for the design, construction, finance and operation and maintenance of a seawater desalination plant in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. The El Salitral plant will produce 7.88 million m³/year and is expected to begin operating by the end of 2013.