• Danish company continues aggressive growth in U.S. market
BJERRINGBRO, Denmark, Dec. 4, 2007 -- Effective Dec. 1 2007, the Grundfos Group, with headquarters in Denmark, has acquired Peerless Pump Company. Peerless is a US based (Indianapolis, IN and five other North American facilities) manufacturer of pumps and fire protection systems. With more than 400 employees and annual sales of USD $110 million, Peerless is Grundfos' largest acquisition to date. Grundfos continues its aggressive growth strategy in North America.
Carsten Bjerg, Group President and CEO of Grundfos Group, comments: "Recently we have focused on growing our business globally, especially in Eastern Europe, Asia and North America. The US market has a significant growth potential and seen in that perspective the acquisition of Peerless is of great strategic importance to Grundfos. Combined with the continued expansion of our R&D facilities and production capacity in North America, this acquisition is crucial to strengthening our US market position."
Today, Grundfos' sales in North America are USD 300m. The US pump market alone is estimated to be USD 6bn, so the business potential for Grundfos is huge. With the latest acquisition, Grundfos expects to double sales within a four year period reaching USD 600m.
Søren Ø. Sørensen, Group Executive Vice President and Chairman of the Board of Grundfos in North America, says: "Grundfos has had a presence in the US market since 1973 and over the last three years we have made a series of major investments in North America to accelerate our growth. With the acquisition of Peerless we extend our product range as well as our US sales organization significantly. We expect a lot from this deal and see great potential for globalization especially of the Peerless fire protection systems."
Peerless' products are high-end and the company is considered to be one of the two most recognized water pump brands in the U.S. according to a 2007 survey conducted by the US based Pumps and Systems Magazine. All members of the "Fortune 10" have purchased pumps from Peerless.
Dean E. Douglas, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peerless, comments: "We see Grundfos' acquisition of Peerless as an extremely positive move for our customers as well as for the future security and continued development of our employees, of Peerless Pump itself, and our world wide sales network. The synergies between our organizations are significant and will allow Peerless to accelerate the rapid growth we have enjoyed over the past few years."
Douglas will continue in his present position as President and CEO of Peerless with reference to the Grundfos Group's new Regional Managing Director, Jes Munk Hansen.
In 2004, the Grundfos Group announced its strategy for North America. Since then the Group has made a number of strategic investments on the continent:
• 2007: Acquisition of Peerless
• 2007: R&D office in Silicon Valley
• 2006: Dosing pump competence center in Georgia
• 2006: Acquisition of Paco
• 2005: Product development in Kansas
• 2005: Establishment of factory in Mexico (opens in early 2008)
• 2004: Establishment of new HQ in Kansas and significant sales force expansion
Over this period of time, employment has increased from 530 to more than 1,200 and sales have grown from USD 144m to 410m including the Peerless acquisition.
Sørensen says: "Grundfos will continue the investments in the US. Over the past two years we have acquired two new companies in the US. We have also added investments in product development to our US activities and we consider R&D essential for an optimum integration of our three US product portfolios - Grundfos, Paco and Peerless."
The Grundfos Group, with headquarters in Denmark, develops, sells and produces almost 16 million pumps a year.
###
