Published 25th August 2011

Korean construction firms GS and POSCO, along with Brazil’s Odebrecht and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa have been shortlisted as bidders for OHL’s water and environmental subsidiary Inima, sources at the Spanish company confirmed to GWI.

GS has identified water treatment as an area in which it wanted to grow its business, following on from POSCO, which recently created a water and environmental division.

Odebrecht and Hutchison were both involved in negotations to buy Inima earlier this year but the deal broke down over the issue of price, according to OHL.

OHL hopes to obtain €200 million from the sale of Inima in order to reduce its debt burden. It expects the deal to go through before November. However Spanish water industry sources have expressed scepticism about the likelihood of OHL being able to achieve its asking price.