ST. PAUL, Minn., March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Pentair (NYSE: PNR) announced
today that Brazilian enclosure manufacturer Metalurgica Taunus Ltda. (Taunus)
of Boituva, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil has become a part of the Pentair
Enclosure Group. This move further strengthens Pentair's presence in the
fast-growing South American telecom enclosures market, and supports Pentair's
key global customers including Lucent, Motorola, Nortel, Siemens and Ericsson.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010306/MNTU024 )
Since early 2000, Taunus and Pentair have jointly provided manufacturing
and service support for Pentair's South American enclosure business.
"Our commercial relationship with Taunus over this past year has been very
successful, and has met both Pentair and Taunus' expectations, as well as
those of our customers," said George Danko, president and chief operating
officer of Pentair's Enclosures segment. "Through the addition of this market
leading enclosure company, we are better positioned to accelerate our
expansion into the South American markets, solidifying our relationships with
global telecommunications companies that continue to expand into this market.
This move, coupled with our recently announced expansion into China, is a
significant step towards the development of our global supply strategy for the
telecommunications market. This strategy has been proven successful in
securing multi-million dollar global programs with leading telecommunications
infrastructure providers."
Taunus is the leading designer, manufacturer, and distributor of metric
enclosures for electronic and industrial applications in South America, with a
growing presence in the telecom market. The privately held firm, founded in
1969, has state of the art facilities with about 170,000 square feet of
manufacturing space in Boituva, close to Brazil's telecom center, Campinas.
"The penetration of Taunus into the high growth telecom market has been
accelerated by the relationship established with Pentair last year," says
Jorge L. Veduvoto, general manager of Taunus. "Becoming a Pentair company is
the logical next step to becoming the preferred telecom enclosure provider in
Brazil."
Pentair's Enclosures segment generated global sales of totaled
$777.7 million in 2000, an 18 percent gain over 1999 levels, while operating
income totaled $94.6 million, a 50 percent improvement over the previous year.
Pentair ( http://www.pentair.com ) is a St. Paul-based manufacturer whose
core businesses compete in Tools, Water Technologies, and enclosures markets.
The company employs 13,000 people in more than 50 locations around the world.
Any statements made about the company's anticipated financial results are
forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties such as
continued economic growth in North America, strong retail demand during the
Christmas selling season, pricing and other competitive pressures, Pentair's
ability to rapidly strengthen management in the affected businesses, and other
uncertainties as described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10K for the
year ended December 31, 2000. Actual results could differ materially from
anticipated results.
| Contact: |
Joe Wuensche of Pentair, 651-639-5282. |
SOURCE Pentair
CONTACT: Joe Wuensche of Pentair, 651-639-5282/