Planet Water

Water, says Steve Hoffmann, will be the resource that defines the twenty-first century-driven by a substantial increase in its value. The water business is already the third largest industry in the world, behind oil and gas production and electricity generation. There is a burgeoning global demand for safe drinking water, environmentally sustainable water use, and industrial process improvement. Trillions of dollars will be spent worldwide on water projects in the coming years, which will substantially elevate the equity values of water-related companies. In fact, from 2000 to 2005, water utility stocks returned 134%, and some individual water utility stocks went up five-fold over the same period. And water utilities comprise just one sector among a number of functional groupings, each of which possess their own unique fundamentals. In Planet Water, Hoffmann, one of the first investors to recognize the value of the water industry as a long-term investment, reveals the details behind this growing opportunity and shows you how to profit from it in the years ahead. The water industry, Hoffmann explains, not only encompasses all aspects of drinking water, but also, in an increasingly significant context, provides water to meet the quality parameters of everything from human consumption to ecological integrity to semiconductor manufacturing to irrigation-and in the quantities necessary to potentially serve a future megacity of a billion people. The combination of need and structure will require expenditures of unprecedented proportions and create an investment opportunity that is only beginning to come to fruition. Dramatic change is on the way-to be reflected in consolidation, rationalization, accelerating merger and acquisition activity, private equity involvement, and a consistent flow of initial public offerings. Planet Water outlines the five key sectors of the industry-utilities, treatment, analytical, infrastructure, and resource management-and reveals what investors can expect to see in the near and long-term future and how they can make the most of this unprecedented investment opportunity. With the rapidly expanding world population, especially in developing economies, as well as increased per capita water demand, an overutilized supply of fresh water, and the fact that water is experiencing growing temporal and spatial constraints, all the ingredients are in place for water stocks to continue to outperform the general market. In fact, Hoffmann believes that water is logically transitioning to a distinct asset class based on the unique characteristics of water as a scarce resource and a vital commodity. Planet Water will show how you too can profit from an investment in the resource of the twenty-first century: water.