Aqua Pennsylvania acquires East Bradford wastewater system

Aqua America’s Pennsylvania subsidiary has purchased the wastewater assets of East Bradford Township, Chester County, for $5m.

With this purchase, the company has gained almost 1,250-connections.

Aqua chairman and CEO Christopher Franklin said: “Our acquisition of East Bradford is another example of how Act 12 can help a municipality ensure its residents have professional and reliable wastewater service into the future, while reaping the benefit of a fair price for its assets for their community.”

Aqua Pennsylvania president Marc Lucca said: “I’d like to thank the community leaders of East Bradford Township for having the confidence to entrust their residents’ wastewater service to Aqua.

“We’re proud to have the opportunity to now provide wastewater service to our East Bradford water customers, which enables us to offer greater economies of scale and operational efficiencies. We look forward to this additional service opportunity.”

This is the firm’s second acquisition in Pennsylvania to close under fair market valuation legislation.

The Pennsylvania subsidiary has three purchase agreements under the fair market value mechanism: New Garden Township, Chester County with around 2,100 customer connections; and Cheltenham and East Norriton townships in Montgomery County with about 10,500 and 4,950 connections, respectively.

Besides the fair market value agreements, Aqua Pennsylvania has an asset purchase agreement with the Borough of Phoenixville, Chester County. This agreement leads to around 560 water connections.

Along with these agreements and the East Bradford deal, the company has gained over 19,000 more customers.

In November, Aqua Pennsylvania signed an agreement with East Norriton Township, Montgomery County, to buy its wastewater assets for $21m.

In July, Aqua Pennsylvania acquired the wastewater system of Limerick Township, Montgomery County. With this purchase, the firm added over 5,400 customer connections.