Global Water Resources Inc., a water resource management company, has completed an acquisition of Las Quintas Serenas Water Company located near Tucson in Pima County, Arizona.
The acquisition adds approximately 2.5 square miles of service area and 1,100 active water service connections, increasing Global Water’s total active service connections by more than 2 percent. It comes after Global Water’s similar acquisitions of nearby utilities Francesca, Mirabell and Red Rock.
The acquired connections are primarily residential and located in close proximity to the service areas of Global Water’s other recently acquired utilities. Global Water will maintain Las Quintas Serenas’ customer walk-in office located in Sahuarita.
As part of its initiatives for Las Quintas Serenas, Global Water plans to upgrade the utility’s connections from manually read meters to smart meters.
“We welcome Las Quintas Serenas’ strong operating team and their customers to Global Water’s growing family of companies,” stated Global Water Resources president and CEO, Ron Fleming. “The size and close proximity of Las Quintas Serenas to our other utilities, as well as its exceptional operating history, made it an ideal addition to our portfolio.”
Las Quintas Serenas represents Global Water’s largest acquisition since Red Rock Utilities in 2018. It is also the company’s sixth acquisition in Pima County following Rincon announced earlier this year, and Tortolita, Lyn-Lee, Mirabell, and Francesca completed in the fourth quarter of last year.
The company currently plans to make additional acquisitions in the growth areas surrounding Phoenix and Tucson. These areas also fall within the Arizona Sun Corridor, a megaregion that is expected to double in population by 2040.
“This acquisition continues the expansion of Global Water’s footprint in Pima County which we began last year,” noted Chris Krygier, the company’s chief strategy officer. “We believe there remains additional opportunities for acquisitions in the highly-fragmented water utility industry in Arizona, and particularly for smaller ‘tuck-in’ acquisitions.”
Las Quintas Serenas’ designation as a Class D water utility enabled Global Water to close the transaction on an expedited basis under ACC acquisition policy rules. To qualify as a Class D, a utility in Arizona must have annual operating revenues of at least $250,000 but not more than $999,999 per year. The acquisition was completed with cash-on-hand.
