Adrem Invest makes EUR 2 mln Swiss acquisition

Adrem Invest, a Romanian technical engineering firm, has acquired the Swiss engineering firm MTAG Marti Technologie AG in a deal worth EUR 2 million, in a bid to expand its industrial presence in Western Europe.

The transaction included the acquisition of a US subsidiary and the takeover of around 30 Swiss and US specialists. Following the move, the company has been renamed MTAG and MTUS.

MTAG holds 22 percent of the Swiss market in steel gassing in vacuum systems. It has worked with major players in the steel industry such as Russian TMK, Italian ASO and Austrian VAG.

“We believe the Swiss acquisition will allow us to grow the export market,” said Corneliu Bodea, vice-president of Adrem Invest (left in picture). He estimated the company will gain 37 percent in turnover to RON 171 million (around EUR 37 million) this year, with EUR 5 million coming from external markets.

“Since the start of the crisis, the steel industry has been the worst hit. We were saved by the Chinese market and the fact that we have other activities,” said Bodea. The company has four divisions ranging from automatization services to renewable energy.

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Planned investments

Adrem Invest plans to extend its process engineering division and has landed a EUR 5.5 million contract in China. It will supply the vacuum pump for the world’s largest installation for the degassing of liquid steel.

The firm is researching hardware equipment and software solutions to accommodate the large-scale use of smart grid technology. This is done through its own R&D center, which was allotted EUR 200,000 this year.

The engineering firm is the leading supplier of SCADA solutions and provides automatization services for utilities, according to Bodea.

Adrem Invest is planning EUR 1.5 million of investments by 2013 in developing the maintenance service of medium- and low-tension lines. It has invested EUR 700,000 in streamlining power meter operations.

The firm handles the reading of electricity meters of Czech utility CEZ and partially for German E.ON. It has an ongoing pilot project with Italian utility Enel for one area of Bucharest and Dobrogea.

In the green energy division, its largest project is the biomass-fueled cogeneration plant in Suceava. The investment exceeds EUR 90 million, and 70 percent of the financing comes from Raiffeisen Bank International.

The equipment will be provided by the Austrian firm URBAS, while the biomass will be supplied by the Austrian wood-processing firm Schweighofer.

The plant is expected to become operational by next winter and is set to provide thermal energy to 60,000 inhabitants of Suceava, mostly flats connected to the centralized heating system.

Aside from the cogeneration project, Adrem is in the final permitting stages of a 10 MW photovoltaic park in the Buzau region, which it wants to sell.

The company, which employs 835 people, has no plans to cut back on staff next year, but will be striving for more efficiency, according to its vice-president.

Ovidiu Posirca