JSE-listed defence and telecoms company Grintek has formalised its relationship with German defence company, EADS Ewation, to form a new company which is expected to have annual revenues of about $120 million.
The deal sees EADS acquiring 45% in the newly formed company, Grintek Ewation, and is effective from January next year.
EADS Ewation will inject operational assets and technology into the new company, as well as create a research and development facility where all future design and manufacture of the MRCM product range will take place.
MRCM (Monitoring, Reconnaissance, Countermeasures) products represent the full range of 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.
"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," says Grintek group MD, Sybrand Grobbelaar.
EADS Systems and Defence Electronics is currently participating in 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. Its revenue for the 2000 financial year amounted to 24.2 billion euros.
Grintek Ewation will have a joint workforce of around 400 employees and Grintek says it is expecting annual revenues of around $120 million.
Related stories:
Kunene rides on Grintek`s better performance
Share
