A 50:50 joint venture between Thermax Ltd and Culligan International Co, US, Thermax Culligan is going to benefit from changes in ownership of Culligan. US Filter Corporation, which owns Culligan Corporation, has been acquired by French giant Vivendi. The $13 billion diversified Vivendi group is a major player in the water business in Europe and US. Vivendi is into water treatment and waste treatment for industrial and municipal use. It supplies water to cities Paris and Berlin.

Thermax Culligan caters to the household, commercial and industrial markets for water treatment, conditioning and purification. The company has successfully got into the bottled water segment and is growing at 10 to 15 per cent in value terms.

Bruce A Stump, international sales manager, US Filter said he was looking at expanding the consumer and commercial business. The company is looking at small-scale devices for consumer business, small scale filtration for residential segment and reverse osmosis equipment. Another product being considered is a purifier which runs without electricity or running water. Designed and developed by US Filter, the system purifies water using resin technology and disinfectants. This is being targeted for emergency uses and in areas of scarce water and electricity. The cartridge has capacity to purify 10,000 litres of water at a time and runs without electricity and running water. The food service segment including coffee, soda, tea and ice making machines are a growing area and prospects in this segment would be explored, Stump said.