GE's Power Conversion Business Acquires Chilean Company IDT

SANTIAGO, Chile (Nov. 11, 2013) – GE's Power Conversion business announced that it has finalized the acquisition of the Chilean power electronics company Ingeniería y Desarrollo Tecnológico S.A. (IDT). With this move, Power Conversion is actively positioning the company to build a stronger regional presence and capture a greater share of the mining segment. IDT designs, develops and manufactures integrated solutions in the field of power electronics with its key innovations targeting the mining industry in Chile and Peru. With this acquisition, GE will build on IDT’s technology and solutions to offer them across Latin America and then globally. These integrated solutions include rectifiers (high-power equipment for any kind of electrolysis process), harmonic filters (power quality assurance) and integrated power E-rooms of electrical equipment (including medium- and low-voltage variable speed drives, switchgears and motor control centers). With almost half of the power rectifier installed capacity in the mining industry in Chile depending upon IDT’s solutions, the company is a key player in the regional mining space. Additionally, IDT’s nearly 100 employees and more than 30 years of experience will bring world-class engineering expertise, customer relationships and technologies to the Power Conversion portfolio. Based on the quality of the company’s technology capabilities and the expectations of more than $150 billion of mining investments in the next decade in Chile and Peru, it is expected that the business will create a large regional mining platform to provide solutions to its customers in Chile and Peru. To support the enhanced volumes, GE is planning to significantly expand IDT capacity by investing in a larger facility that also would support other GE businesses in Chile. Moreover, the synergies with Power Conversion and the global scope and scale of GE coupled with its broad array of solutions makes this business particularly well positioned for significant top and bottom line growth going forward. Joe Mastrangelo, CEO of Power Conversion says, “With world-class products and people, IDT is an excellent strategic fit with the Power Conversion business model of providing highly innovative and high-technology solutions for our customers in the mining industry. This acquisition is an important step forward in developing the regional business both in terms of providing solutions and service as well as expanding our global offering to provide our customers with the mission-critical equipment and solutions that meet the toughest technical challenges and growth objectives.” Patricio Lagos, president of IDT, says, “GE’s Power Conversion business represents an excellent opportunity for IDT to grow its capabilities and technologies to expand internationally and to create value with innovations for and together with our customers. By being under the GE name, it is good news for our employees, which will now be part of the big GE family. This is an exciting opportunity for us to bring all of the capabilities to our customers that a global company can provide while expanding our product range internationally.” IDT is focused on technology and innovation to bring customers the solutions to electrify the mining industry that best meet their needs especially in terms of efficiency and reliability. This culture of innovation and quality fits perfectly into that of Power Conversion and the company’s capacity for providing high-technology electrical and control systems for optimizing processes across a variety of industries. This transaction will advance Power Conversion’s objective of growing its business in the mining industry through providing complete solutions from a single reliable source with a strong local engineering and service commitment. Since its first steps in Chile in 1927, GE always has considered it to be a promising country. With the integration of these two companies, GE will strengthen its positioning as a key partner to governments and private companies by reinforcing its infrastructure. All IDT employees will be integrated into GE Chile where they will continue to add value to the company bringing along all their expertise and knowledge. “We are really proud that a Chilean company has come to GE’s attention due to its excellence and innovative products. Now that IDT is part of our portfolio, we are confident that mining companies will find an end-to-end solution as well as a world-class technology within GE,” said Hugo Silva, head of GE Mining Latin America in Chile. GE finds solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance.