No purchase price disclosed in deal which becomes effective 1st July 2015.

Wispeco Holdings (Pty) Ltd – Group of Companies is continuing with its expansion strategy with the announcement of a further acquisition. The statement from the company says that it has agreed to purchase a majority shareholding in Pressure Die Castings (Pty) Ltd (PDC), a Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal based die casting foundry that specialises in manufacturing brass, aluminium and zinc castings. The purchase price was not disclosed. The sale of the shares will be effective from the 1st July 2015 subject to Competition Commission approval.

“PDC have built the company customer by customer. Their approach being to start from a customer’s need exploring various design options until the best process solution is identified. This approach is valued by their customers who are then confident that the process designed will best meet their requirements,” said Hermann Rolfes, Managing Director of Wispeco Holdings.

The new shareholders believe in the PDC business model and would like to support further growth of the business. The current directors of PDC Mike Wolhuter, Lance Deysel and Graham Smith will continue to lead the PDC team.

Hermann Rolfes and Mike Wolhuter

“The business will continue to operate on a stand alone basis and retain its entrepreneurial spirit. We welcome PDC and its employees to the Wispeco Group,” said Hermann Rolfes.

PDC is an innovative supplier of brass, aluminium and zinc castings to the South African and international markets. As a specialist die caster, which has been in business since 1952, they currently manufacture more than 100 different components for a number of diverse industries. The primary industries include the building hardware industry, the fire sprinklers industry, the electrification/powerline sub-assemblies industry, the automotive sub-assemblies industry, the plumbing/geyser components industry and the electrical illumination industry. More than fifty percent of production is exported.

The company was awarded Business of the Year in the Nedbank sponsored Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business (PCB) Business of The Year for 2014, in the manufacturing sector.

Wispeco Holdings is a leading aluminium extrusion company in South Africa and offers a one-stop-shop in the supply of mill finish, powder coated and anodised aluminium extrusions for various applications in a variety of industries. These include the building and construction, transport, energy, agricultural, general engineering and automotive industries.

The company consists of four main operating units – billet casting, aluminium extrusion (with in-house die manufacturing), surface finishing and aluminium systems distributor outlets country-wide. “Being part of the Wispeco Group will allow us to continue our growth in our six market segments. Our expectations for the business continue to be high. We are confident that both our customers and our shareholders will realise major benefits going forward as we drive for cost reductions and market share gains,” commented Mike Wolhuter, Managing Director of PDC.

For further details contact Pressure Die Casting on TEL: 033 397 5500 or visit www.pdc.co.za