Andritz to take GE stake in GEHI JV

25 June 2008


The move follows andritz's agreement to by the Canada-based operations of GE's hydro unit, which was announced last month.

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. Andritz said the move brings staff from operations in Camoinas in Brazil, Tampere in Finland and Kristinehamm in Sweden. It also noted the acquisition also brought hydraulic test laboratory and manufacturing facilities in Tampere, and production facilities in Araraquara, Brazil.

The strategic sale completes GE's exit from hydro, which it signalled in late 2006 with the proposed divestment of the assets and resources directly to a different company - the Argentina-based Pescarmona Group, which owns Impsa. However, that sale did not complete by the late May 2007 deadline.

After a re-think, especially as the hydro sector was becoming more active, GE then transferred its global hydro headquarters to Brazil to boost GEHI, the JV it has had with local industrial group Inepar since 1998. Major investment in hydraulic laboratories, plus plant and turbine model transfer, has been underway in Brazil following the decision.

The GEHI JV will now be owned by Andritz and Inepar.

Much of GEHI operates in Campinas, in Sao Paulo state, in Brazil. Much of the planned expansion of infrastructure for the JV is in Araraquara. Training of the hydraulic engineering team as part of a technology transfer programme with GE Energy was due for completion by September. The JV's new hydraulic test lab was to have the first of two universal tests stands in in place by September 2009.

No information was immediately available on how the plans might be affected following Andritz's deal to take the controlling stake in the venture.

Separately, earlier this month Andritz va-tech Hydro won an order to supply the electro-mechanical equipment for the Xekaman 3 plant in Lao PDR. The US$42M order was placed by Xekaman 3 Power Co, which is a Lao-based affiliate of Vietnamese group Song Da.




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