Express Engineering signs joint venture with Brazilian Brastec
One of the UK’s fastest growing precision engineering companies, Express Engineering, has announced a joint venture with a Brazilian partner.
The deal with Brastec Ltda. will allow both companies to take advantage of the huge business opportunities in one of the world’s most active oil and gas extraction markets.
With two of the three largest sub-sea reserves discovered in recent years off the Brazilian coast, around half the global drilling and underwater equipment manufacturing capacity is expected to be focused on the region.
The 50:50 partnership, signed this week, creates Pertrotec Components Ltda. which will begin operations in the first quarter of next year (2010). The premises, a 1,000 square metre extension to Brastec’s existing Sao Paulo plant, is already in place and over £1 million worth of machinery has been ordered.
The two companies have much in common. Both are recognised experts in different though complementary areas of engineering, each is privately owned with around 140 employees, annual turnovers of approximately £15 million are comparable and they even operate from similarly modern, mirrored premises.
As one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of precision engineering components and assemblies, Express Engineering has just completed the first phase of a £3.2 million expansion at its Tyneside headquarters. This investment was designed to increase capacity by up to 50% as it seeks to win new business in the aerospace, defence and oil and gas sectors.
Brastec specialises in engineering solutions, developing and manufacturing high standard heavy equipment for oil and gas, wire and cables and pipe industries. The company is currently expanding with up to 5,000 square metres of manufacturing space available for the production of precision components for the oil and gas sector.
Said Express Engineering Managing Director, Nigel Davison: “We have been looking to establish a specialist manufacturing capacity in Brazil for some time but the challenges posed by language, culture and distance are considerable. This arrangement with Brastec offers the perfect opportunity to overcome all these obstacles.
“The slightly different operational profiles of our companies mean we can both add to the others’ offer while the size and similarity of the way the companies work suggests they will fit well together.”
Fabio Romano, Director from Brastec, added: “We are delighted to be able to partner such a well known and experienced company as Express Engineering. This is a great opportunity to strengthen both firms’ positions in the Brazilian oil and gas market, creating specialised jobs.”
Over the coming months, staff from Express Engineering and Brastec will work in each others businesses to begin the knowledge transfer and training process ready for manufacture.
