Nilfisk-Advance makes acquisition in South Africa

Nilfisk-Advance will acquire ownership of its South African distributor WAP South Africa (Pty) Ltd. (WAP) as at 1 January 2008. This development is part of Nilfisk-Advance's plans to expand its activities in both existing and new markets.

WAP has established an extensive sales and service organisation in South Africa employing 190 people. The acquisition will increase the revenue of Nilfisk-Advance by around 7 million EUR.

Experienced organisation
Established 30 years ago, WAP is owned by the company's management and one external investor. The company has serviced the South African market as sole distributor of Nilfisk-ALTO and Nilfisk-Advance products for a number of years. WAP is thus a well-established enterprise with in-depth knowledge of Nilfisk-Advance's product programme and service concepts.

With the acquisition of WAP, Nilfisk-Advance's opportunities to increase sales in the South African market will be strengthened considerably. This is partly due to the prospects of selling a broader product programme, but Nilfisk-Advance's possibilities of sales in the neighbouring African countries to which WAP already exports will also be increased.

The agreement for the acquisition of WAP was entered into as the result of a desire by the founder and majority shareholder for generational change in the management within a few years.

Part of Nilfisk-Advance's expansion strategy
The acquisition of WAP on 1 January 2008 will add a further company to Nilfisk-Advance's 35 existing sales subsidiaries, the majority of which are domiciled in Europe, North America and Asia. Over the past year, as part of its expansion strategy, Nilfisk-Advance has not only acquired the Chinese production and sales organisation Viper, but also strengthened its position in Denmark and the UK through acquisitions  of Søndergaard Maskincenter A/S and Doug Tolson Engineering Limited .

See also info about the acquisition at NKT