New Partnership to Bring SPX's Highly-Efficient Power Plant Components to India Market
CHARLOTTE, N.C. and PUNE, India, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SPX Corporation (NYSE: SPW) and Thermax Limited (NSE: Thermax-EQ; BSE: 500411) today announced that they have entered into an agreement to form a new strategic joint venture to market SPX's industry-leading products to India's rapidly growing power sector, and selectively to Southeast Asia. The joint venture agreement was signed by Mr. M. S. Unnikrishnan, Managing Director, Thermax Limited and Mr. Drew Ladau, SPX segment president.
Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will be located in Pune, India. Thermax will own a majority 51 percent and SPX the remaining 49 percent. SPX and Thermax already have a strong, pre-existing working relationship dating back to 2007, when Thermax first became a licensee of SPX's Balcke-Durr branded, sub-300 megawatt electrostatic precipitator technology aimed at serving smaller power stations. Through the establishment of the joint venture, the new entity will be able to provide this same technology to power plants of any size, including much larger facilities, exceeding 300 megawatts. The Thermax-SPX joint venture also will market Balcke-Durr's proven lines of rotary heat exchangers and pulse jet bag filters for power plants.
"Our joint venture with Thermax in India represents a significant milestone in SPX's global expansion plans and will enable our two companies to contribute our combined proven technologies and industry expertise toward the advancement of India's energy infrastructure," said Christopher J. Kearney, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of SPX. "Our previously strong working relationship with Thermax, coupled with its strong local energy industry expertise and robust management team, makes Thermax the ideal partner for us to expand our presence in India. We also anticipate that this new venture will allow us to more effectively serve customers in other parts of Southeast Asia."
As the world's second-fastest growing economy, India continues to see high demand for increased power and energy. To help meet this demand and fuel further economic growth, it desires to boost investment in power and utilities. Additionally, the country's government has introduced plans to build ultra-megawatt power stations with approximately 4000 megawatts capacity in an effort to more quickly boost power generation. In its "World Energy Outlook" for 2008, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that $1.8 trillion will be invested in India's energy infrastructure between 2007 and 2030.
