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K M Thye of Darco and Geoff Paterson of PAL look forward to a productive co-operation. |
| Darco ties up with HK-based Process Automation International to target projects in China |
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| Singapore - 12 January 2003 - SGX Sesdaq-listed Darco Water Technologies Limited ("Darco") today announced that it has signed a co-operation agreement with HK-based Process Automation International Ltd (PAL) which will allow them to work together to offer a total solution for the electronics and metal finishing industries especially in China. |
| Darco is a leading provider of integrated engineering and knowledge-based solutions for water and wastewater treatment. Established in 1966, PAL is a world leader in the design, manufacture and installation of high quality electroplating and environmental protection equipment, with an extensive global customer base and distribution network. PAL is a subsidiary of HK-listed Asia Tele-net and Technology Corp Ltd. |
| Under the co-operation agreement, Darco and PAL will work exclusively to market, bid and deliver customized engineered water systems to deliver pure-water and treat wastewater for PAL's plating and metal finishing machines in Asia. |
| This is the second such agreement Darco has entered into with an outside party. In September last year, it signed a co-operation agreement with UK-based Kennicott Water Systems Limited, the world's oldest and most established industrial water system companies, to act as the latter's exclusive strategic partner in Asia. Under that tie-up, Kennicott will work exclusively with Darco to bid and execute all water treatment projects associated with the power and petrochemical industries in Asia. |
| For a start, Darco and PAL are already targeting more than half a dozen new projects, mostly in China, with a combined contract value of nearly $12 million. |
| The submission of proposals for projects will be undertaken jointly by Darco and PAL, with Darco providing the design, manufacture, installation, start-up and commissioning of water purification systems and wastewater treatment systems as well as qualified engineers. PAL will package the services and offer them to customers as a total solutions for the plating industry. |
| PAL has installed plating machines all over the world. It has recently installed its equipments in China (two of them for European 'giants'), Germany, India, Israel, Japan, The Philippines, Thailand, Tunisia, Canada and the UK. To date, the total of PAL machines delivered stands at 1,250 in 36 countries around the world. |
| According to Geoff Paterson, Managing Director of PAL, "Although the electronics industry, and the Printed Circuit Board sector in particular, and to a lesser extent, the General Metal Finishing industry, has been in a depressed state for 18 months with few signs of widespread recovery much before mid 2003, we see some bright spots, on which PAL has been focusing its attention in recent months. These include PCB manufacturing in Thailand, the motorcycle industry in India, and Taiwanese and European "transplants" into China." |
| "We intend to offer Darco's water and wastewater solutions to all our existing plating installations and especially to new customers. This will allow us to market ourselves as a total solutions provider for the electronics and metal finishing industries," says Mr Paterson. |
| He added, "This is the first alliance of this nature with an external party. We have chosen to work with Darco because we were impressed by its extensive knowledge of the water treatment and their technical capabilities, including their after-sale service and maintenance support. With the experience and impeccable track record of the management team, we are confident that this partnership will position us well to benefit from the anticipated business recovery in the PCB and semiconductor industry." |
| Mr K M Thye, CEO of Darco, highlighted the significance of the alliance with PAL when he said, "As China is the next big market, this strategic alliance with PAL which is based in Hong Kong provides us an ideal springboard into China where PAL already has a significant presence." |
| "We intend to pursue this strategy of teaming up with different partners to target different industries which I believe will quicken our pace of growth. Having successfully partnered Kennicott to target the power and petrochemical industries and PAL for the electronics and metal finishing industries, we now would like to seek out partners to take us into the F&B and life sciences sectors," said Mr Thye. |
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About Darco Water Technolofies Listed on SGX Sesdaq in July 2002, Darco is a provider of integrated engineering and knowledge-based water treatment solutions. Established in 1999 to design, fabricate, assemble, install, commission and service engineered water systems for industrial use in Singapore and Malaysia, Darco has developed systems and services based on both membrane and ion exchange technologies. Within a span of three years, Darco has formulated over 100 engineered water system solutions. The Group, which has operations in Singapore, Malaysia, the PRC, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia, serves companies across diverse industries - electronics, semiconductor, textile, food and beverage, printed circuit board and pharmaceuticals. |
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About Process Automation International Ltd (PAL) PAL was founded as Asia Electroplating Co in 1966. It started from being a small plating shop to become a manufacturer of semi-automatic plating machine and related parts for local plating shops in Hong Kong in the 1970s. PAL has gained rapid growth since then and was able to produce fully automatic electroplating equipment and entered overseas markets successfully in early 1980s. PAL has built a solid business foundation with good experience and reputation over the past 36 years and has become a world-renowned electroplating equipment manufacturer. It has also established a strong global sales/service network of representations in more than 10 locations in North America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Israel, India, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. |
| 12 January, 2003 |
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Contact Information August Consulting Pte Ltd Tel: 6733 8873 Fax: 6733 9913 Karen Ting - karen@august.com.sg Giselle Lau - giselle@august.com.sg |