Siemens announced yesterday that it has acquired the Singapore-based private limited Chemitreat Group to expand the water treatment business in South East Asia, paving the way for Malaysia to be a leading provider in the water technology business in the country. Chemitreat will become part of Water Technologies, a business unit of Siemens’ Industry Solutions division.

 “Life expectancy is continuously increasing in both the developing and industrial nations, and Malaysia is one of them. As a result, the world of tomorrow will be shaped in large measures by the mega trends urbanisation and demographic change. Under these circumstances, ensuring adequate supplies of energy, water and other everyday necessities while guaranteeing mobility, security, healthcare, industrial production and environmental protection will be a major challenge. One key issue of our business is water. Scarce resource, dense population means clean water for the people; and Siemens focuses very much in water and waste water treatment,” said Siemens’ Industry Solutions Senior Vice President, Andreas Stoegner.

He added: “We have acquired the full assets of the company, including the 74 staffs for Malaysia. This means we will have full engineering and service capacities to provide the full breadth of service in the Siemens product range. This acquisition also allows us to conquer five countries in one go,” . With sales of more than EUR25 million (approx RM121,500 million) in 2007 and 240 employees, Chemitreat provides water treatment technologies and services in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and China apart from Malaysia.

Siemens took the first step in expanding its business in water technologies when it acquired US Filters in 2001, and went on to be an active player in the North American and European markets. In October of 2006, Siemens set up its Water Technologies in Malaysia, and has been scouting for a suitable partner to build itself as the leading water technology provider not only at the national level, but at a regional and global level. “

Now we can safely say that we are fully fledged to the stamp our superiority as the leaders in water technology, especially in the industrial water sector,” added Stoegner. 

Chemitreat has been a much respected player in the region for more than 30 years, and covers services from operations to maintenance for both industrial and municipal customers apart from holding technology expertise in key industrial applications including high purity water treatment.

The acquisition is primarily about geographic expansion in South East Asia allowing better market penetration.

Said Stoegner: “With the market segment for water treatment equipment and services growing by 7-9 percent a year in Asia, Chemitreat can help us to better address the growing water needs of industry and the public in this region,”.   

In addition, there are no significant overlaps between the Chemitreat and Siemens water treatment portfolio.

Said Chuck Gordon, global CEO of Siemens Water Technologies based in the US: “So, the acquisition helps us supplement our existing portfolio and extend our regional footprint. The acquisition continues our growth strategy in the Asian region,”.

Since 2006 Siemens has ramped up its water treatment business in the Asia-Pacific region with joint ventures in China and a research and development center in Singapore.

With an investment of EUR25 million over five years, Singapore will be developed as a business and technology center for research, development and engineering of water and wastewater treatment technologies. “With Chemitreat we now bring our water treatment and service portfolio to Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines. This will provide us with a strong platform to accelerate our market entry into other countries, such as India and Vietnam,” said Gordon.   

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About Siemens Industry Sector:

The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is the world's leading supplier of production, transportation and building technologies. With integrated hardware and software technologies as well as comprehensive industry-specific solutions, Siemens increases the productivity and efficiency of its customers in the fields of industry and infrastructure. The Sector consists of six divisions: Building Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility, Drive Technologies and Osram. With around 209,000 employees worldwide Siemens Industry achieved in fiscal 2007 total sales of approximately EUR40 billion (pro forma, unconsolidated). http://www.siemens.com/industry The Siemens Industry Solutions Division (Erlangen, Germany) combined with Siemens VAI Metal Technologies (Linz, Austria), Siemens Water Technologies (Warrendale, Pennsylvania, USA), and Industry Technologies (Erlangen, Germany) is one of the world's leading suppliers of solutions and services for installations in the fields of industry and infrastructure. Industry Solutions uses its own products, systems and process technologies to support the planning and construction of installations as well as their commissioning and maintenance over the whole life cycle of each plant.

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