As mentioned in the interim report presented on 27 May 2013, Per Aarsleff A/S had initiated negotiations with Aegion Corporation USA for the purchase of Aegion’s 50% share in the jointly owned German company Insituform Rohrsanierungstechniken GmbH (IRT) in Nuremberg. An agreement has now been made, and Aarsleff is the sole proprietor of the company.
Aarsleff has been engaged in trenchless pipe renewal in Germany since the late 1980s and since 1996 as the 50% co-owner of IRT.
IRT is domiciled in Nuremberg and has a production facility for impregnation of liners in Geschwenda near Erfurt. The company has ten sales and representative offices in Germany and activities in Slovakia and Hungary.
IRT’s total annual revenue is just over DKK 500 million. At 31 December 2012, equity was DKK 100 million. Operating income for the calendar year 2012, determined according to the accounting policies of the Aarsleff Group, was approx. DKK 23.5 million after tax and before expenses for trademark license which will become void as from 1 January 2013. The company has 230 employees. The acquisition price is EUR 14 million in cash.
The Aarsleff Group’s total annual revenue under the Pipe Technologies segment will increase by just over DKK 500 million, as Per Aarsleff A/S’s former 50% share of IRT as associated company has not been consolidated previously.
Pipe Technologies’ long-term target for the segment result is maintained at 6% of profit before interest in percentage of revenue.
In future, the German company will operate under the name Aarsleff GmbH. We expect to create synergy with the similar business activities that Aarsleff has in other Central and Eastern European countries and not least with the activities in Denmark where we manufacture and process semi-finished products at our production plant in Hasselager near Aarhus.
The German market is very competitive but also the most important market in Europe. With segment revenue of just above DKK 1.5 billion after the purchase, the full ownership will make Aarsleff the most important operator in Europe within trenchless pipe renewal.This will allow us to exploit advantages of large-scale operations so that we continue enhancing our market positioning and obtain further efficiency gains in the execution phase.
General Manager Rudolf Feldmeier will continue to be responsible for the management of the Germany subsidiary.
The purchase will not affect Aarsleff’s earnings expectations for the rest of the financial year 2012/2013.