Clearford Water Charts a New Path Forward
The recapitalised company has moved on from its troubled past, and is pursuing a revamped ownership model for decentralised assets.
By Ian Elkins, Editor-in-Chief for Global Water Intelligence
Published in Global Water Intelligence March 2023
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Canadian decentralised wastewater operations provider Clearford Water Systems has emerged from a protracted restructuring process as a newly private company with a fresh set of shareholders and a new go-to-market strategy.
Now, following a court-approved restructuring which saw its three largest creditors – including Swiss advisory firm Signina Capital – swap their debt for equity, the company is looking to take advantage of broad demographic and regulatory trends in its core franchise area of southern and eastern Toronto to achieve profitable growth.
“We operate about 250 smaller private wastewater treatment sites across the southern and eastern parts of Ontario, with about 100 employees based out of ten hubs,” explained company veteran Wilf Stefan, whose role as chief operating officer meant he was deeply involved in providing guidance during the restructuring process.
As well as its in-house operating expertise, Clearford also has engineering and compliance capabilities which it is looking to leverage in order to offer a water-as-a-service model to its clients. It currently serves smaller sites such as trailer parks, seasonal camp grounds and golf courses, and is planning to work more closely with property developers in future by taking a project management role in the construction of water and wastewater infrastructure for housing developments. Clearford would then use its accumulated knowledge to operate the infrastructure under a long-term contract, with the option of providing a finance wrap so as to keep the capital cost off the developer’s balance sheet.
