| Mon 3 Dec 2001, 0:00 | | Grintek Announces Formal Partnership With Eads Ewa |
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GRINTEK LTD
PRETORIA - A successful initial cooperation agreement has resulted in the
strengthening of the relationship between South Africa's Grintek Group and
Germany's leading high technology company, EADS Ewation.
The deal, effective from January 2002, results in EADS Ewation acquiring a
45 percent stake in the newly formed Grintek Ewation (Pty) Ltd, with Grintek
retaining the majority share.
Already a global player in specialist signal intelligence and communications
electronic warfare (EW) activities, the new company boasts a joint workforce
of about 400 employees and expects annual revenues of about U$ 120 million.
Speaking at the signing of the shareholding agreement, Grintek group
managing director Sybrand Grobbelaar said that the agreement was an exciting
conclusion to Grintek's strategy of internationalising its defence business
through associations with world-class partners.
"We believe that we have formed an unrivalled partnership in the field of
signal intelligence, which will give us greater access to sophisticated
world markets, as well as the interdependence required to build a long term
relationship," he said.
EADS Ewation will inject additional operational assets and technology into
the new company and create a centre of excellence in South Africa for
ongoing R & D as well as all future design and manufacture of the MRCM
product range (Monitoring, Reconnaissance, Countermeasures.)
MRCM products represent the full range of state-of-the-art SIGINT
technologies including power amplifiers and jammers in the HF and V/UHF
ranges, as well as wideband monitoring, direction finding and signal
classification equipment based on extremely fast data processing
capabilities.
"The original South African-German co-operation agreement, signed about two
years ago, created huge synergies in technical and marketing expertise
within the two companies. The complementary nature of the product ranges,
the combination of marketing and development activities and the exploitation
of economies of scale, made the implementation of this equity partnership
agreement an easy one," concludes Grobbelaar.
"Our joint venture with Grintek enables the cost-effective development of
sophisticated and comprehensive systems solutions in the field of
information warfare, which is the key to the preservation of security and
crisis prevention," explains Stefan Zoller, head of EADS Systems & Defence
Electronics.
For more information please contact:
Mr Sybrand Grobbelaar
Managing Director
Grintek Limited
South Africa
Tel: 27 12 672 8300
Fax: 27 12 672 8301
E Mail: info@grintek.com
www.grintek.com
Lothar Belz
EADS Systems & Defence Electronics
Phone 49 (0) 731 392 3681
Email: lothar.belz@sysde.eads.net
ABOUT GRINTEK LIMITED
Grintek Limited is a technology group listed on the JSE Securities Exchange,
which addresses selected niche markets within telecommunications, industrial
and defence electronics. Grintek employs some 1300 people, a large
percentage of whom are engineers and technicians.
EADS Systems and Defence Electronics is one of the most important defence
electronics suppliers in Europe. It is participating in key defence projects
such as the Eurofighter self-protection system EuroDASS, the NATO Air-Ground
Surveillance sensor SOSTAR and the long-range surveillance drone system
EuroHawk. With revenues amounting to EUR 24.2 billion (2000) and 100 000
employees, EADS is the largest aerospace and defence company in Europe and
number two world-wide.
