Aqua America Inc., a publicly traded water and wastewater utility holding company, has completed nearly 200 acquisitions and growth ventures in the last decade. The aggressive growth strategy is old hat to Christopher Luning who was just
named vice president of corporate development. He'll have plenty of support, too. Chairman and CEO Nicholas DeBenedictis, who we
interviewed for Corporate Dealmaker in 2006, said Aqua America has greatly strengthened its corporate development team over the past three years so that its state operations have locally knowledgeable managers for dealmaking. Luning joined the firm in 2003, most recently serving as VP and deputy general counsel.
Luning (pictured) certainly isn't the first lawyer turned dealmaker, but it took him a lot less time than fellow Villanova University alumni Mark Kropilak, Aqua's senior vice president of corp dev and corporate counsel. The Deal's Christine Idzelis reports
Kropilak spent 17 years on the company's legal team before moving into a dealmaking role in 2002. He said the corp dev division is lean, but they form teams as deals arise, tapping local experts to work on them.
Aqua has done myriad deals, but isn't known for the size of them. One of its biggest acquisitions came last year when it bought New York Water Service Corp. from Utilities & Industries Corp. LLC for $50.9 million in cash and debt. The Bryn Mawr, Pa., firm serves about 3 million people in various states and has a market cap of about $2.3 billion. -
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