Celsius froms joint venture with South Africa's Grintek Group

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Celsius forms joint venture with South Africa's Grintek Group Celsius and the South African Grintek Group form a joint venture in electronic warfare Celsius of Sweden and the Grintek Group of South Africa are forming a joint venture, to be known as Avitronics (Pty.) Ltd. This agreement establishes a strong company that will be a frontrunner in equipment for warning, threat evaluation and countermeasures against missiles. A collaboration agreement has been signed between Avitronics and Celsius' business unit, CelsiusTech Electronics. Celsius acquires a 49-percent interest in the company, while the Grintek Group retains a 51-percent interest. This historic agreement was signed today in Pretoria, South Africa, by Grintek's chairman Zoli Kunene, and Celsius' CEO Lars G. Josefsson. "We are very pleased to have reached this agreement. Grintek will strengthen its position significantly, partly through access to Celsius' know-how and experience, and partly from broader exposure via Celsius' global marketing network," states Zoli Kunene, commenting on the agreement. Celsius' CEO Lars G. Josefsson says: "This is an important step forward for Celsius, fully in line with our declared strategy as a global player. We shall jointly consolidate our position on current markets by virtue of the fact that the new company will provide a much broader product and knowledge base. We shall thereby increase our chances of penetrating new markets." "The new company will be a leading player in electronic warfare, an area that is gaining increasing significance with respect to the high-tech defence forces of the future," adds Lars G. Josefsson. Celsius and Grintek serve complementary markets. Together they will also be able to offer the market electronic warfare protection on a greater number of aircraft, ships and army vehicles. A collaboration agreement is being signed between Celsius' business unit CelsiusTech Electronics and Avitronics. CelsiusTech Electronics develops and manufactures advanced electronic systems, mainly for defence applications. Operations focus primarily on electronic countermeasures, sensors, fire-control and stealth technology, areas of increasing importance to tomorrow's high-tech armed forces. For further information, please contact Mr. Kjell Göthe, Vice President/Group Communications at Celsius, on + 46 (0)8 - 463 00 19, + 46 (0)70 - 583 95 44 (mobile) or via e-mail at: kjell.gothe@celsius.se Mr. Sybrand Grobbelaar, Managing Director, Grintek Limited, South Africa. on +27 12 348 9626, fax. +27 12 348 3146 or e-mail at: sgrobbelaar@grintek.com Websites: www.celsius.se www.grintek.com Celsius is an international advanced-technology and knowledge based corporation, which in close interaction with its customers develops, manufactures and maintains advanced systems, products and services within core areas Defence and Aviation Services. Based on a platform of comprehensive competence, new businesses with strong growth potential are developed for the military and commercial markets. Celsius, with sales of about SEK 13 billion, has some 11,000 employees. Grintek Ltd is a contractor and supplier of electronics related products and services to the telecommunications, defence, mining, avionics, air traffic management, security and power utilities markets in South Africa and selected export markets. The group is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of around R300 million. Grintek employs some 1,300 people, a large percentage of whom are engineers and technicians. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/02/26/19990226BIT00180/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/02/26/19990226BIT00180/bit0002.pdf