Consortium buys Mekorot's Ashdod desalination plant

Ashdod desalination plant credit: Albatross Aerial Photography

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The GES consortium is paying much more than Mekorot expected to receive for the plant, which produces a sixth of Israel's desalinated water.

The GES consortium, comprising Shapir Engineering and Industry (TASE: SPEN), controlled by the Shapira family, and Generation Capital, is buying the Ashdod desalination plant from Mekorot Israel National Water Co. The consortium will pay Mekorot NIS 909 million, which is much more than Mekorot estimated. The plant desalinates some 100 million cubic meters of water annually, about a sixth of the total volume of desalinated water currently produced in Israel. All five of Israel's main desalination plants will now be privately owned.

Mekorot received five initial bids for the Ashdod plant, but only the GSE consortium and IDE were left at the advanced ages of the auction.

The Accountant General division of the Ministry of Finance said in a statement, "The sale process was carried out as part of the structural reform approved by the government two years ago, and it will strengthen the company's capital structure."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 20, 2021.