Acquisition of Technor Safe Ex AS - BARTEC Confidently Pursues its Growth Strategy

BARTEC, one of the world’s leading solution providers of industrial safety technology, is confidently pursuing its vigorous growth path. The high-tech company, which has its head office in Bad Mergentheim/Germany, has acquired the Norwegian company Technor Safe Ex AS. Based in Stavanger/Norway, one of the key markets for European oil and gas production, Technor heads its domestic market in the sale of explosion-proof equipment and systems. Typical applications for the company's customized solutions are oil platforms and offshore facilities.

The acquisition of Technor Safe Ex AS is an ideal addition to the BARTEC product portfolio, which ranges from explosion-proof components and system solutions to heating technology, measuring systems and analyzers and equipment and machinery for the mining industry. In addition, the takeover from its previous owner Technor AS, a holding company of Norwegian private equity investor HitecVision, will allow BARTEC to further expand its business activities in Norway and other Scandinavian countries as well as in the oil & gas offshore industry worldwide. In the last business year Technor Safe Ex AS posted sales of around 20 million euros with a workforce of around 70. In Norway, the company has its own sales and service support division headquartered in Stavanger as well as production facilities in Sauda.

BARTEC, in which the funds advised by Swiss investment firm Capvis have the majority shareholding, will operate Technor Safe Ex AS as an independent company within the BARTEC Group and continually expand the new business unit, which will trade as BARTEC TECHNOR. Following on from the acquisition of the British communication and security system supplier Vodec Ltd. in September 2009, and the establishment of two new sales units in Japan in May 2010 and Kazakhstan in September 2010, this takeover represents another key milestone in the growth strategy of this internationally positioned Group.

“The strategic acquisition of Technor Safe Ex AS will allow us to further expand the product range as well as the solution capabilities of the BARTEC Group and consolidate our presence in the key oil and gas market in Norway and the entire North Sea region,” stressed Dr. Ralf Köster, CEO of the BARTEC Group. “This investment is a successful step in the ongoing push for growth and the internationalization of the Group.”