White Plains, New York, Feb. 2, 2004 -- ITT Industries said its two most recent acquisitions mark the continuation of the company's strategy to expand the technological and geographic reach of its water business, a growing component of its market leading Fluid Technology portfolio.
The two latest acquisitions, to be operated within ITT's Sanitaire unit, further enhance the company's position to meet growing global demand for clean water and satisfy new regulations governing municipal and industrial water treatment through complete water treatment solutions including instrumentation, filtration, biological treatment, disinfection and oxidation.
ITT will acquire a controlling stake in WEDECO AG Water Technology following a previously announced share tender offer that concluded on January 16, 2004.
WEDECO is the world's largest manufacturer of UV disinfection and ozone oxidation systems, which are viewed as increasingly attractive alternatives to chlorine treatment.
Anticipated EPA regulations in the US and ongoing compliance with existing rules in the EU are expected to be catalysts for growing use of UV technologies for disinfecting drinking water in these regions.
As of the conclusion of the original offer period, WEDECO shareholders, including its main shareholder, agreed to tender more than 88 percent of the shares for €18 cash per share.
The total percentage of the shares tendered will be published and those shares purchased on Friday, January 23. Additionally, those shareholders who have not tendered their shares will have until February 6, 2004 to do so.
Also on Jan. 16, ITT Industries completed the acquisition of Shanghai Hengtong Purified Water Development co. Ltd. and Shanghai Hengtong Water Treatment Engineering Co. Ltd. (Hengtong), a Shanghai-based producer of reverse-osmosis (RO), membrane and other water treatment systems for the power, pharmaceutical, chemical and manufacturing markets in China, where a number of new government directives call for increasing urban wastewater treatment in the next few years. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"With the growing global demand for clean, usable water, and with tighter regulatory requirements governing water treatment in key markets, ITT Industries recognized early on that we wanted to increase our presence in the water treatment business worldwide," said Bob Ayers, president of ITT Industries Fluid Technology.
"We purchased Sanitaire's biological treatment technology in 1999 to complement our Flygt pumps offering, and have continued to grow through additional adjacent treatment technologies since then. By acquiring the filtration components of PCI Membranes, Water Equipment Technologies, C'treat, Portacel, Royce Technologies and now Hengtong, and adding finally the disinfection capability of WEDECO, our Sanitaire business has the right products in all regions of the world to enable municipal and industrial customers to improve the quality of treated water that can be used in irrigation, cooling and other processes."
WEDECO reported full year 2002 revenues of $144 million. Based in Dusseldorf, Germany, WEDECO employs 800 people and operates seven manufacturing facilities in Germany, Italy, Hungary, the United States, France and Korea. Hengtong reported full year 2002 revenues of $8 million, and employs 110 people in China.
ITT's Fluid Technology group is a provider of fluid equipment, including pumps, and a market leader in water treatment systems, with 11,000 employees and 32 production facilities around the world. Through its Biological and Filtration Divisions, ITT provides complete systems for secondary wastewater treatment and membrane filtration for the municipal and industrial markets.
ITT Industries, Inc. ( www.itt.com ) supplies advanced technology products and services in key markets including: electronic interconnects and switches; defense communication, opto-electronics, information technology and services; fluid and water management and other specialty products. Headquartered in White Plains, NY, the company generated $4.99 billion in 2002 sales.
