Misc Services

Suez Environnement is one of a handful of global companies that dominate the contentious business of providing drinking water and waste collection services on a for-profit basis. Operating in about 30 countries, it provides water services to some 76 million people and trash services to 51 million. Suez Environnement was previously a part of the French services conglomerate Suez but was spun off in 2008 when Suez merged with Gaz de France to form GDF Suez, which retains a 35 percent holding in Suez Environnement.

Manpower Inc. is a world leader in the employment services industry; they oversee the entire process of recruitment from selection to training to outplacement. Operating in nearly 78 countries around the world, primarily the third world and developing nations, Manpower effectively replaces the responsibility of companies or corporations to find, profile and train employees.

'''Sodexo''' (Sodexho Alliance prior to 23 January 2008, Euronext: SW) is a French multinational corporation and one of the largest food services and facilities management companies in the world. It is present in 29,000 sites within eighty countries, earning revenue in 2007 of €13.385 million. Sodexo has two major lines of business: food and facility management services, and service vouchers and cards.

Global Solutions Limited (GSL) was formerly the section of Group 4 covering prison and court services, immigration detention centers, education contracts, meter readings and outsourced services. In May 2004 it was announced that GSL was to be bought by two venture capital companies, Englefield Capital and Electra Partners Europe. GSL is especially prominent in the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnership (PPP) sectors – i.e.

Group 4 Falck A/S is the world’s second largest security services provider and the industry's largest employer, with more than 230,000 employees in more than 85 countries. With its 2002 acquisition of the Wackenhut Corporation, Group 4 Falck has increased its profit margin by 40 %, almost doubled the number of its employees, and increased its market share dramatically. Securitas (www.securitas.com.) still claims to be the largest security company in the world.

U.S. Investigations Services traces its origins back to 1883 as a part of the federal government’s Civil Service Commission (CSC). Tasked with checking backgrounds of prospective government employees, CSC evolved into the Investigations Service arm of the Office of Personnel Management. In 1996, the Clinton administration privatized this office, purportedly to save money, and sold it for $545 million to the Carlyle Group and the New York investment firm of Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe.