As well as his involvement in the £12bn sale of Cadbury, Roger Carr also played a role in Thames Water's takeover by RWE of Germany and Chubb Safes by Assa Abloy of Sweden.
The water subsector's takeover attractions remain over the medium term, but United has had a very strong run this year, and it is up 35% year to date.
Beyond this, the water subsector's takeover attractions remain over the medium term, and have influenced share prices over the past few months.
Despite coconut water's recent world takeover (after all, anything endorsed by Rihanna is bound to rule the planet, right?), not everyone is entirely convinced of its greatness.
But when, on July 24th, Enron, a big American electricity and gas firm, announced a £1.4 billion ($2.3 billion) takeover of Wessex Water, a British water business in the region made famous by Thomas Hardy's novels, there were few cries of caution.
"It's the dope, man," joked Levet, shaking a bottle of water, when asked about the takeover.
The sector has been buoyed recently by the proposed takeover of Northumbrian Water, up 0.3p at 456.4p, by Cheung Kong Infrastructure, owned by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-Shing.
The water company, facing a £100m takeover from larger rival Pennon, uses a tremendous amount of gas, electricity and diesel oil to run the pumps, treatment works and filter beds needed to provide half a million customers with 140 litres a day of fresh water.
Atlantic City may be forced by New Jersey into an unprecedented state takeover of its water as the result of a bailout, something experts have warned has worrying echoes of the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and could result in price hikes.
We have the excellent "Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America" by Wenonah Hauter, the executive director of Food and Water Watch, which details the takeover of our food system by that same crew of corporate cynics.
