Acciona Agua

What is it?

The water services arm of Spanish construction group Acciona.

What has it done?

In 2009, Acciona Agua more than justified its role as one of the three pillars of the Acciona group by broadening the scope of its service offering, and penetrating new geographical markets. In February, the company broke into the Australian desalination market by taking the 280,000m³/d Adelaide contract. Deals in Italy, Brazil and the Dominican Republic followed, before the company rounded off the year by winning the contract to build the world's largest wastewater treatment plant at Atotonilco in Mexico.

What makes it special?

• In 2009, Acciona Agua cemented its position as one of the leading global water services companies, taking its offering to an ever more diverse client base, and dramatically increasing the proportion of revenues it generates from abroad. The win in Adelaide follows two years of hard preparatory work with its partner United Utilities, and opens up a wealth of further opportunities in Australia.

• Two years ago, Acciona Agua had no exposure in Latin America. Following its desalination breakthrough in Venezuela in 2008, the company took its expertise across the Caribbean to the Dominican Republic in 2009, while securing a key wastewater O&M contract with Brazil's second-largest private water utility Copasa. As the year drew to a close, the Acciona consortium emerged victorious in the battle to win the record-breaking 4.5 million m³/d WWTP at Atotonilco in Mexico.

• With the full support and financial clout of the Acciona group behind it, Acciona Agua's ambitions are bold but prudent. The company is short-listed for a 66,000m³/d desalination DBO in Florida, and has big ambitions in India and the Middle East. Its international expansion will not come at the expense of business at home, however - the company was awarded numerous contracts covering both wastewater and integrated water cycle services throughout Spain last year.