The muddy waters of financialisation and new accumulation strategies in the global water industry: The case of AGBAR

Since the turn of the century the global water industry has seen an influx of new financial actors, investment vehicles and markets along with a discernible change in the corporate strategies of big water operators. In this paper we argue that 'financialisation' is materially shaping ownership, control and geographical organisation in the global water industry. To make this case the paper investigates the historical development, geographical organisation and accumulation strategies of Aguas de Barcelona (AGBAR). By tracing out the development of AGBAR's operations in Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom the paper provides a window onto the complex links between the industrial activity of providing water, both in developing and developed markets, and the chain of actors, techniques and activities that have deepened the industry's links with the circulation of finance capital. The paper argues that financialisation has been of an uneven and spatially variegated intensity, taking hold where the network of services and infrastructures involved in its delivery can be most profitably embroiled within new investment vehicles. This in turn has reacted back upon the geographical and strategic accumulation strategies of traditional water companies that are shifting from ownership operation to management contracts and research-based investment.