GE finalises Industrea buy and looks to future

dzr.jpgGE Mining has announced that it had finalised the purchase of mining equipment manufacturer, Industrea Ltd. The A$700 million transaction, which includes equipment manufacturing and servicing operations in Australia and China, “allows GE Mining to expand its product and service offering to bring more efficient, high productivity, and low emission equipment to its mining customers globally.” Industrea is a provider of safety and productivity-enhancing mining equipment, with more than 700 employees across seven Australian locations, and a significant presence in China. It will form part of the global GE Mining business, headquartered in Brisbane.GE Mining CEO, Geoff Knox, said this acquisition demonstrates confidence in the underlying demand for resources, which would remain sound over the coming decades as urbanisation and growth in energy demand in emerging economies continues. “Locally, Australia is in the right place at the right time to benefit from the Asian Century and productivity is critical to how we realise this opportunity. Productivity is the number one issue facing mining at present. This acquisition further strengthens our capability to solve the toughest challenges of our mining customers, helping to increase their productivity and efficiency across areas as diverse as water treatment, energy generation, transportation and finance.”

President and CEO of GE Australia & New Zealand, Steve Sargent, said this acquisition marks the largest addition to the GE industrial portfolio in Australia and forms a critical element in its strategy to grow manufacturing, services and skills in the region. “Through our acquisition of Industrea, we are making a strategic investment in establishing our first manufacturing footprint in Australia and increasing our high-end engineering and qualified trade base in this region by 50%.”

The Industrea Ltd acquisition follows GE’s recent purchase of underground mining equipment manufacturer, Fairchild International, in the US. GE Transportation President and CEO, Lorenzo Simonelli said he expects GE Mining to grow its global business to $5 billion over the next few years. “The combination of both entities – Industrea and Fairchild – expands GE’s product offering to address the underground mining value chain. These investments will help accelerate our expansion into fast growing markets such as China and Australia where we expect continued double digit growth.”