Weir has agreed to acquire 60% of a new Korean company, Weir International, into which the HIM Tech valve business has been transferred.
Based in Ansan, near Seoul, the business designs and manufactures control and choke valves for severe service power generation and oil & gas applications. As well as domestic customers, its products are supplied to major South Korean engineering contractors for international projects. HIM Tech’s valve business recorded sales of US$10.5 million in 2010.
Keith Cochrane, chief executive of Weir, said: “This acquisition in South Korea, one of the “Next 11” high growth economies, increases our global capability, allowing us to add local content in Korea and provides strong links to a number of important Korean contractors who supply both the home and international markets. The team at HIM Tech, led by Heang Hoon Cho, are already well known to us as trading partners. In recent months we have been collaborating on a number of initiatives which we expect will generate new orders for our global valves business.”
