Waterlogic to acquire Cool Clear Water Group

Water cooler and filtration system manufacturer Waterlogic has made a conditional agreement to acquire the entire share capital of Australian company Cool Clear Water Group(CCW).

The Irish-based firm's acquisition of the point-of-use (POU) drinking water purification and dispensing systems business marks its entry into the Australian market.

Waterlogic will buy CCW for 60m Australian dollars in cash on completion.

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CCW has more than 26,000 POU coolers installed, which Waterlogic said will boost its business-to-business division.

"With over 11,000 customers, ranging from blue-chip organisations to small and medium enterprises, CCW is the only Australian POU provider with a presence in all states," Waterlogic said.

"CCW is predominantly a rental business which will further enhance the Group's proportion of recurring revenues and EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] margin."

CCW's revenues for the year ended June 30th 2012 came to 16.9m Australian dollars while EBITDA came to 9.3m Australian dollars.

The acquisition will be financed through existing cash resources and new debt facilities.

It is conditional on, inter alia, the company securing debt financing. Waterlogic is currently in advanced negotiations with several banks.

Shares rose 0.52% to 193.50p at 11:10 Friday.

RD