Through this acquisition, the Luxembourg-based Group, which has a long tradition in blast furnace design, construction and specialized equipment, will substantially broaden its capabilities in ironmaking technology.
The strengths of the former ironmaking division of SMS Demag, which lies in project management and plant engineering - in the tradition of the former GHH, Demag and Italimpianti - will allow Paul Wurth to efficiently undertake the construction of complete plants.
At the end of last year, Paul Wurth took over Didier-M&P Energietechnik, a renowned engineering company specialized in hot blast stove technologies and blast furnace refractory and lining concepts.
So that, today, Paul Wurth can offer its customers the most complete range of products for the blast furnace route, including latest technologies and innovative equipment as well as a large scope of engineering, project management and site services.
Paul Wurth, who has so far not been involved in cokemaking, will enter, with the SMS deal, a new promising business area with already outstanding expertise and references. Furthermore, the PRIMUS® direct reduction process, developed by Paul Wurth for recycling iron- and steelmaking by-products, is perfectly complemented by the rotary hearth furnace direct reduction technology of the former SMSD unit.
160 highly-qualified staff from the former SMS Demag S.p.A. have joined the specially created subsidiary Paul Wurth Italia S.p.A. in Genoa, so that the Paul Wurth Group employs today about 1000 people throughout the world.
In 2004, the Group's consolidated turnover reached the historic figure of 163 million euros, with a volume of new orders totalling 308 million euros.
Among the major ongoing projects on Paul Wurth Italia side, we should mention the order awarded in October 2004 for a new underjet compound type coke oven battery no. 3 for Sollac Méditerranée in Fos-sur-Mer (France), whose start-up is expected in July 2006.
Another large-scale project is the reline of Ilva Taranto's No. 4 blast furnace, its blow-in being scheduled for December, 2006.
PAUL WURTH S.A. • 32, rue d’Alsace • P.O. Box. 2233 • L-1022 Luxembourg
Tel. : (+352) 4970-1 • Fax : (+352) 4970-2209
• www.paulwurth.com