POWER 

IMI plc, the international engineering group, has acquired Remosa SpA and related companies (collectively "Remosa"), a leading engineering business specializing in valves and related flow control products for severe applications, for an enterprise value of approximately €100m.

Founded in 1955 by Giulio Mambrini, Remosa is a privately owned severe service valve business based in Sardinia, Italy.  Remosa makes specialist valves used in critical applications in the downstream petrochemical sector including fluid catalytic cracking slide valves, two port diverter valves, expander butterfly valves, inlet/outlet isolation valves and ancillary equipment with its own range of linear and rotary valve actuators and hydraulic pressure control units.  Remosa also has an established valve servicing business. 

The main Remosa manufacturing facility is located in Sardinia. The senior management and all of its 360 employees will be transferring with the business. In calendar year 2011, Remosa’s unaudited sales were €48m and underlying EBITDA was €8m.

Remosa will join IMI's Severe Service division, which is a leading global provider of custom engineered valve, actuation, and control solutions for critical in-plant processes, focusing on the Power Generation, Oil and Gas, Petrochemical and Iron and Steel markets. The acquisition of Remosa is highly complementary with Zimmermann & Jansen, which IMI acquired at the end of 2010, and will strengthen the Group’s presence in the downstream petrochemical market.    The use of IMI's global sales and aftermarket infrastructure is expected to improve Remosa's geographic penetration, notably in North America and develop its aftermarket offering.  Remosa already has a strong presence in emerging markets, including South America and Asia, with over 50 percent of sales coming from those markets. 

Remosa was acquired from the founding Mambrini family for a cash consideration of €82.4m and the debt assumed as part of the transaction of approximately €17.6m.  The consideration was funded out of IMI's existing resources and banking facilities.

On January 1, 2012, Cera System Verschleißschutz GmbH, a company specializing in ceramics based in Hermsdorf, Germany, became a member of the Samson Group. The acquisition supplements the Samson product range to include ceramic-lined ball and slide valves as well as pipe components with ceramic linings for applications involving abrasive and corrosive media. "With the acquisition of Cera System, we have enhanced our portfolio and further extended our control valve expertise", said Ludwig Wiesner, Chairman of the Samson AG Executive Board.

With 85 highly qualified staff members, Cera System develops and manufactures valves for the most severe operating conditions as well as high-precision ceramic parts for different industries as an OEM. Joining the Samson Group opened up a worldwide sales network to the ceramics specialist: "The new situation allows us to gradually extend our positive development and provide our customers with a better service also on an international level", emphasized

Helmut Burghardt, CEO of Cera System.

IMI plc ("IMI"), the international engineering group, has acquired Grupo InterAtiva ("InterAtiva"), a Brazilian isolation valve business from its founding partners for an initial cash consideration of £22m and deferred consideration up to a maximum of £21m payable based on delivery of stretching financial targets over the next three years.  The consideration is being funded out of IMI's existing resources and banking facilities. 

Founded in 1992 by Wilson Gabriel and Mauro Bilbao, InterAtiva was privately owned and designs, assembles and distributes isolation valves to various end markets including oil and gas, sugar and ethanol production and water treatment.  It operates a 9000sq meter facility located in Sorocaba, near Sao Paolo and employs 70 people who are all transferring with the business.  For 2011, InterAtiva’s unaudited sales were £12m and underlying EBITDA was £3m, and all of the 2011 sales were in the fast growing South American markets. 

InterAtiva will join IMI's Severe Service division, which is a leading global provider of custom engineered valve, actuation, and control solutions for critical in-plant processes, focusing on the Power Generation, Oil and Gas, Petrochemical and Iron and Steel markets. InterAtiva has existing strong customer relationships and approvals in Brazil with both the major engineering, procurement and construction firms and also with the major oil and gas companies.  With an experienced management team, and capacity for final assembly, it will be a strong platform for IMI’s existing severe service isolation valve brands, including Orton and TruFlo Rona, to enter this market. 

Flowserve Corporation, a leading provider of flow control products and services for the global infrastructure markets, and S&A Abahsain Co. Ltd., one of the top 50 business entities within Saudi Arabia, formally inaugurated a new valve manufacturing plant and training center in the Dammam Second Industrial City.

The Dammam manufacturing plant is a state-of-the-art, 55,000 square foot facility with capabilities for component machining, valve assembly, and testing. The facility is operated by Flowserve Abahsain Flow Control Company Ltd., a joint venture between Flowserve Corp. and S&A Abahsain Co. Ltd.

 "Our continued investment in this venture underscores our commitment to Saudization and by leveraging our global application expertise, we are able to meet to the needs of our customers in the Saudi Arabia market and across the region." said Mark Blinn. 

The Flowserve Abahsain joint venture was formed early in 2009 to supply valves to the oil and gas, petrochemical, power and water industries. The joint venture commissioned the Dammam manufacturing facility in late 2010, and completed the ISO 9001 certification, Saudi Aramco certification and other major customer approvals in 2011.

The facility reached an important milestone in late 2011 with the successful manufacture, inspection and shipment of the facility’s first large bore control valves to be completely assembled and tested in Saudi Arabia. A total of seven Flowserve Valtek Mark 100 16" ANSI 300 globe valves, with Flowserve Logix 3200MD positioners, were delivered on schedule to a major grass roots refinery project currently under construction in Saudi Arabia.

The Dammam facility will have the capability to manufacture a broad range of valves and actuators, including Flowserve Valtek globe, ball, plug, butterfly and severe service control valves; Flowserve Valbart trunnion mounted ball valves; Flowserve Durco/Atomac Teflon-lined plug, ball and butterfly valves; Flowserve Serck Audco plug valves; Flowserve Limitorque electric actuators and Flowserve Automax pneumatic actuators.

The world class training center combines classroom instruction with "hands on" training for Flowserve valve and actuation products. Training is available for both Flowserve employees and Saudi customers, and is customizable for operations, maintenance, procurement or engineering personnel.

The fully equipped Flowserve Quick Response Center (QRC) will provide service and repair support to Saudi-based customers. The QRC employs qualified valve technicians who perform valve repair and troubleshooting either in the facility or at the customer’s site. The QRC maintains an inventory of valves and spare parts, which minimizes delivery lead times for customers.

Schroeder Valves commissioned their new high performance flow test facility. The flow test loop is the centerpiece of the company’s outstanding commitment to quality control and customer satisfaction. It is one of the most advanced valve test facilities in the world with a number of impressive statistics. The water storage tank has a capacity of 80 m³ and a total of seven pumps with an individual capacity ranging from 120m³/h up to 2,200m³/h. The pumps are all electric motor driven with power ratings ranging from 30KW to 500 KW. Different combinations of pumps can be used together, and the maximum flow capacity of the test loop is 4000m³/h. The flow test facility has 5 separate stations for testing valves with nominal sizes from DN 25 (1 inch) up to DN 750 (30 inch). Two independent flow tests can be carried out simultaneously.

This test facility has a state of the art PLC system that allows the flow test to be run fully automated, semi automated or manually. All of the critical performance parameters of the ARC valve are measured and recorded. These include:

•Bypass flow capacity (Kv value)

•The closing point of the bypass on increasing main flow, and opening point of the bypass on decreasing main flow (Switch point)

•The pressure drop in the main flow direction measured over the full operating range of the valve.

A flow test curve is supplied as part of the quality control documentation. This test curve verifies that the valve performs to the customers' specified requirements. The flow test medium is water, and the test curve is automatically corrected for actual service liquid if the specific gravity differs from that of water. The test data is permanently stored, and can be referred to at any time following the flow test.

Spirax Sarco announces it is expanding its Blythewood, South Carolina operation to accommodate growth in its steam system solutions business. The new facility has over 35,800 square feet of office and production space.

"Our business is continually growing due to the hard work and dedication of our employees. This facility will enable Spirax Sarco to successfully meet the growing industry demand for steam system solutions and to better serve our customers nation-wide," said Stephen Gow, Director of Marketing.

Revenues increased by 12 percent to £2,131m (2010: £1,911m). After adjusting for an exchange rate benefit of £19m and the contribution from acquisitions, the organic revenue increase was 5 percent.

Severe Service revenue  of £572m (2010: £452m) delivered growth of 27 percent including the results of Zimmermann & Jansen (Z&J) and TH Jansen (THJ) since acquisition. Organic revenue increased 2 percent for the full year, reflecting a stronger second half performance

with organic growth of 5 percent. Shipments of valves continued to be strong into liquefied natural gas (LNG) applications, offsetting the weaker performance in the Fossil Power sector resulting from the softer order intake in the second half of 2010, and in Nuclear, where activity levels have been affected since the incident in Japan in March 2011.

Total order intake for Severe Service was up 2 percent for the year and the order book ended the year 16 percent higher than at the start of the year as order intake once again outpaced shipments. As previously indicated, margins were impacted by a combination of lower new valve margins, notably in the nuclear sector, a less favorable aftermarket mix and higher operational costs in our new facility in Brno.

Z&J performed well with both order intake and shipments showing good growth for the full year. IMI acquired THJ in October 2011 for an enterprise value of £15.0m. THJ is highly complementary to Z&J and will significantly enhance Z&J’s capabilities as a leading global provider of custom engineered valve, actuation and control solutions for critical in-plant processes in the Iron & Steel sector.

Flowserve Corp. announced financial results for the full year and fourth quarter in its 2011 Annual Report. Flowserve had full year 2011 results of (all comparisons versus full year 2010 unless otherwise noted) fully diluted EPS of $7.64, up 11.0 percent, including $0.05 of net currency benefits, bookings of $4.66 billion, up 10.2 percent, or 6.7 percent excluding positive currency effects of $149 million, reflecting solid short cycle original equipment activity and increased aftermarket activity, aftermarket bookings up $153.5 million, or 9.0 percent, over 2010, and sales of $4.51 billion, up 11.9 percent, or 8.3 percent excluding positive currency effects of $144 million, driven by increased short cycle original equipment sales and strong aftermarket sales.

For fourth quarter 2011 (all comparisons versus fourth quarter 2010 unless otherwise noted), Flowserve had fully diluted EPS of $2.25, up 12.5 percent, including $0.05 of negative currency effects, bookings of $1.15 billion, up 11.3 percent, or 12.0 percent excluding negative currency effects of $8 million, reflecting solid chemical, oil & gas and general industries orders and continued strong aftermarket activity, aftermarket bookings up $21.9 million, or 4.9 percent, over fourth quarter 2010, and sales of $1.27 billion, up 11.0 percent, or 11.7 percent excluding negative currency effects of $8 million, reflecting solid original equipment sales and strong aftermarket sales across all divisions.

Flow Control Division bookings for the fourth quarter of 2011 were $377.6 million, an increase of $49.8 million, up 15.2 percent, or 15.5 percent excluding negative currency effects of approximately $1 million.  Bookings for the full year 2011 were $1.60 billion, an increase of $296.4 million, up 22.7 percent, or 18.6 percent excluding currency benefits of approximately $54 million.  Valbart provided bookings of $165.0 million for the full year.  FCD sales for the fourth quarter of 2011 were $380.3 million, an increase of $20.2 million, up 5.6 percent, or 5.9 percent excluding negative currency effects of approximately $1 million.  Sales for the full year 2011 were $1.47 billion, an increase of $275.8 million, up 23.0 percent, or up 19.0 percent excluding currency benefits of approximately $48 million.  Valbart provided sales of $112.9 million for the full year.

The Flow Control Division (FCD) delivered impressive 2011 performance, with full year bookings increasing 22.7 percent on the strength of the chemical, oil and gas and general industries. Sales increased 23 percent for the full year, led by Latin America and the Middle East, but also supported by percentage increases in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. 

Curtiss-Wright Corporation reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011. CW’s fourth quarter 2011 operating highlights include net sales increased 7 percent to $561 million from $523 million in 2010; net earnings increased 9 percent to $0.84 per diluted share, from $0.79 per diluted share, in 2010; and new orders were $506 million, down 10 percent from 2010, as the timing of valve orders from the naval defense market was partially offset by solid demand in the commercial aerospace market due to production rate increases by Boeing and Airbus.

CW’s full year 2011 operating highlights include net sales increased 9 percent to $2.05 billion from $1.89 billion in 2010; organic sales were up 3 percent; net earnings increased 22 percent to $2.77 per diluted share, from $2.30 per diluted share, in 2010; and new orders were $2.07 billion, up 8 percent compared to 2010, primarily due to higher orders in the power generation market, strong demand in the commercial aerospace market and increased demand in the oil and gas market for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) products. At December 31, 2011, backlog was approximately $1.70 billion, up 2 percent from $1.67 billion at December 31, 2010.

Flow Control segment’s sales for the fourth quarter of 2011 were $290 million, an increase of $7 million, or 2 percent, over the comparable prior year period. Overall, the sales performance was mixed, as growth within the general industrial, oil and gas, and commercial aerospace markets were partially offset by lower sales in the naval defense and power generation markets. Increased global demand for our control systems for commercial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning ("HVAC") customers drove the higher sales in the general industrial market. Within the oil and gas market, increased sales of super vessels were partially offset by lower international project sales. Meanwhile, lower sales in the power generation market were primarily due to the timing of revenue recognition on AP1000 reactor projects both domestically and internationally. Lower sales in the naval defense market were primarily due to the winding down of production on the CVN-78 Ford class aircraft carrier and Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System ("EMALS") programs, and lower sales on the Virginia class submarine program were due to timing on long-term contracts.

Full year 2011 sales of $1.06 billion grew 4 percent compared to 2010, led by solid increases in  power generation, general industrial and commercial aerospace markets. CW experienced increased sales in the power generation market for AP1000 reactor projects both domestically and internationally, as well as improved demand for aftermarket products for existing operating reactors. Sales to the commercial aerospace and general industrial markets experienced benefits similar to the fourth quarter results noted above. Meanwhile, sales were significantly impacted by the reduction in oil and gas due to ongoing delays in capital spending on large international projects. Elsewhere, sales to the naval defense market were impacted by the aforementioned decreases in production, as well as the cancellation of the DDG1000 program.

Philip Burness has joined global flow control specialist Rotork as Director of Site Services, responsible for Rotork’s worldwide after sales and engineering projects business. Based at Bath in the UK, Rotork is the world’s leading manufacturer of valve actuators, valve control systems and precision control instruments.

Philip brings to his new position over thirty years’ experience in process industry service and maintenance activities, most recently as the Service Director for a leading international manufacturer of instrumentation and control systems. His previous experience includes instrument and control design, implementation and maintenance responsibilities in the chemical, plastics and power generation industries.

As Rotork Site Services Director, Philip will work with Rotork’s worldwide sales and service company network to continue the growth of after sales support, engineering projects and life of plant services. In this important role he replaces Grant Wood, who has been appointed Managing Director of Rotork Controls, Rotork’s electric valve actuation division.

Crane Energy Flow Solutions, a leading provider of highly engineered products for fluid handling applications worldwide, announced its recent hire of Javier Suarez, who will serve as Global Business Line Manager – Cast Steel Valves based in The Woodlands, TX. In this role, Suarez will lead the business management and brand strategy of the Crane Cast Steel product range.

Suarez comes to Crane with 13 years of experience in the Energy and Oil and Gas sectors, and 17 years in management leadership roles. Most recently he was employed with Conco Industrial Services, Corporation in Houston, TX, where he was the President and General Manager for more than four years, growing revenues of the company four fold in as many years. Prior to Conco Industrial Services, Suarez worked with GE Energy-Oil & Gas for seven years where he managed a variety of positions such as Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Commercial Operations Management and Balance of Plant Sourcing Manager. Suarez holds a Masters degree in Business Leadership from Duxx Graduate School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Science, Industrial and Systems Engineering from Monterrey Tech.

The recently opened Botlek Tank Terminal (BTT) at Rotterdam relies on Rotork’s latest electric valve actuation technologies for automated flow control and vital safety related duties associated with the import, export and storage of a varied range of liquid bulk products. Construction of the €70 million first phase of the terminal began in April 2010 and was completed within budget and on time by the Polish company Polimex-Mostostal S.A.  BTT has 34 storage tanks, providing a combined storage capacity of 200,000 cubic meters, of which 130,000 cubic meters is earmarked for clean fuels and the rest is for edible oils and biodiesel. The state-of-the-art terminal has deepwater berths including a 420 meter jetty that can simultaneously accommodate two seagoing vessels and two barges, operating 24 hours-a-day.

Over 250 Rotork IQPro multi-turn and quarter-turn intelligent electric actuators have been installed to operate the valves that control the routine movement of liquids throughout the site. A further 55 Rotork Skilmatic SI self-contained electro-hydraulic actuators have been installed in strategic areas on valves that provide failsafe Emergency Shutdown (ESD) protection from potential accidents and spillages. All the Rotork actuators are monitored and controlled on fully redundant Rotork Pakscan digital bus loops, linked by three Pakscan P3 master stations to the site’s central SCADA system.

The Skilmatic SI actuators are equipped with integral circuitry designed to receive a separately hardwired discrete ESD alarm signal that will override any other input and move the actuator to the pre-determined safe position, even in the event of electrical power failure. These actuators are situated on the inlet and outlet ports of the storage tanks and on the marine and truck loading bays. They are key components in the Safety Instrumented System (SIS) that operates with dedicated level and flow sensors and ESD logic solvers to provide the site’s Safety Instrumented Function (SIF).

BTT General Manager Charles Smissaert pointed out that the Rotork Skilmatic electro-hydraulic solution for ESD protection at the site had been selected as a more robust and reliable alternative to air operated actuators, which also require more maintenance. All Rotork actuators at BTT feature ATEX explosionproof certification and IP68 double-sealed watertight enclosures designed for harsh and exposed environments.

Rotork’s latest electric control valve actuation technology has been selected for the automation of metering pumps in Group 2C hazardous areas in an automation project at an oil refinery in India. Sixteen CVA (model number CVL500) linear actuators with IECEx international explosionproof certification have been ordered to control metering pump valve positions by means of a 4-20 milliamp signal and provide remote status indication. The actuators are also equipped with hand drive mechanisms to enable manual operation of the valves.

The CVA is engineered to deliver high precision valve positioning and facilitate the tightest possible tolerances on the process variable in order to optimize process quality and output.  On the loss of power, built-in super capacitors enable the CVA to move the valve to a desired position, programmable as open, close, any intermediate position or stay-put.

The CVA uses a variant of Rotork’s well established ‘non-intrusive’ wireless communication technology for actuator programming, commissioning and adjustment.  Actuator set-up and configuration is performed using a Bluetooth enabled PDA or PC running Rotork Enlight software.  Every CVA incorporates an onboard data logger, enabling operational data including valve torque profiles, dwell times, actuator events and statistics to be downloaded for investigation and diagnosis. After analysis, any required configuration changes can be uploaded into the actuator.

Mechanical features include the industry proven Rotork ‘double-sealed’ enclosure, whereby the internal electrics are permanently protected from the effects of the ambient atmosphere. The IP68 dust tight, watertight and temporarily submersible (7 meters, 72 hours) enclosure is universal to all the models in the CVA range, including those with hazardous area approvals.

Peach Valve (South Korea) has manufactured and supplied 80in size dual plate check valve double flanged type made of Nickel Al-Bronze to Samsung Engineering, according to valve-world.net. This mega size valve will be used for Ruwais Refinery Expansion Project owned by Takreer, United Arab Emirates.

Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract by Statoil to deliver six subsea trees and a tool package for Troll on the Norwegian continental shelf. Estimated contract value is NOK 350 million. The Troll field is the world's biggest subsea development with regards to the number of subsea wells. Last year, Aker Solutions reached a major milestone in delivering the 100th subsea tree to the Troll field. The contract awards and deliveries for Troll have helped to shape and develop Aker Solutions' subsea business.

The scope of work includes six subsea trees, with a possible option for nine further subsea trees, including control systems.

The Troll field is located in the northern part of the North Sea, approximately 65 kilometers west of Kollsnes, near Bergen in Norway. The field contains 40 per cent of the total gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf and is also one of the largest oil fields on the continental shelf. Under this contract, Aker Solutions will deliver equipment to the oil section of Troll.

A subsea tree is a key technology enabling oil and gas production directly from a subsea well to a processing facility. The tree is essentially an advanced set of valves and is used together with associated technologies to control the well flow. The subsea tree is an integral part of a subsea production system. The tool package is needed to operate the fourth rig to be employed by Statoil on the Troll field.

Aker Solutions' contract party is Aker Subsea AS. Equipment deliveries will be made from 2012 to 2015.

Victaulic, the world's leading manufacturer of mechanical pipe joining systems, introduces the Series 726D Super Duplex Stainless Steel Vic-Ball Valve. With the ability to withstand pressures of up to 1,200 psi (8200 kPa), the Series 726D is ideal for high pressure applications in corrosive environments, such as reverse osmosis and desalination piping systems.

The Series 726D is a grooved-end, high-pressure, full-port ball valve that provides faster, easier and safer installation than flanged or butt-weld valves. The valve is connected with the Victaulic Style 489DX rigid coupling, which requires only two bolts to form a secure joint, making field assembly extremely fast. With a smaller profile than a flanged valve assembly, the Series 726D achieves significant space savings, allowing it to be installed with ease in tight spaces.

The Series 726D valves offers excellent flow characteristics and uses less energy than more restrictive types of valves. The two-piece, end-entry design features a floating ball for lower torque requirements.

A unique patent-pending composite seat design provides bubble-tight sealing ability for high- and low-pressure requirements. A stem seal cartridge enables easy stem seal replacement.

The valve features an ISO 5211 standard mounting pattern for convenient mounting of remote actuation, including a full range of power actuators.

The Series 726D is available in 2-6 inches (60-150 mm) sizes.