Raleigh, NC, September 25, 2002 -- ABB Electricity Metering has reached an agreement with Ruhrgas Industries (RI) to acquire ABB's worldwide electricity and water metering businesses.
ABB Metering is a provider of water and electricity metering with some 3,800 employees working in 33 production operations over 30 countries. Together with RI's gas metering businesses, this acquisition will form a new provider with global metering revenues of over $1 billion USD. Following regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to be completed in December 2002.
Ruhrgas Industries is the management holding company for the global industrial affiliates of the Ruhrgas Group, a German gas distribution company. Ruhrgas Industries concentrates on two fields of business: gas measurement and control, and industrial furnaces.
Through its subsidiaries American Meter Company (Americas), Elster (Europe and Asia), Kromschroder (Europe), and Instromet, RI is a major provider in gas metering with revenues of approximately $640 million USD.
The Ruhrgas Group, the German gas distribution company, has revenues of approximately $13 billion USD and over 9,000 employees; there are 6,000 employees within Ruhrgas Industries. ABB Electricity Metering's integrated product portfolio comprised of advanced, high-accuracy ANSI and IEC electricity meters, communications software solutions, and automatic meter reading system solutions for utilities fully complements RI's existing product line.
"The management team at ABB Electricity Metering enthusiastically supports this acquisition. Our customers will continue to receive the highest quality products, solutions, and customer service, however, our business will now be part of a company with a focus on gas, water, and electricity metering and utility metering services. We believe this will provide unique opportunities to service the needs of our customers," stated Mark Munday, senior vice president of ABB Electricity Metering.
The new company will have a streamlined focus on the utility market's increased demand for efficient metering equipment and integrated system solutions triggered by market deregulation.
The goal of the acquisition is to gain international technological market leadership in the field of measuring equipment and services revolving around utility metering. For more information on ABB Electricity Metering, visit www.abb.com/metering. For more information on Ruhrgas Industries, visit www.ruhrgasindustries.com.
About ABB Electricity Metering
ABB Electricity Metering is part of ABB Metering, a provider of water and electricity metering. ABB Electricity Metering is located in Raleigh, North Carolina and offers an integrated suite of metering solutions including advanced, high-accuracy ANSI and IEC electricity meters, communications software solutions, and automatic meter reading systems.
ABB Electricity Metering addresses advanced energy information management demands critical to utilities, energy marketers and customers for monitoring electricity usage, power quality and reliability.
Source: ABB Electricity Metering
