GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of the General Electric Co., today announced a joint venture with Pentair Inc. to combine their respective global water softener and residential water filtration businesses. With GE's and Pentair's industry-leading technologies and Pentair's expansive distribution channels, the joint venture will provide reliable and affordable water treatment solutions to meet growing needs.
Pentair's chairman and CEO Randall J. Hogan said that with the formation of the joint venture, Pentair and GE will be better positioned to serve residential customers with industry-leading technical applications in the areas of water conditioning, whole house filtration, point of use water management and water sustainability.
"Further, this joint venture advances Pentair's current residential filtration strategy for growth," Hogan added. "We believe we will accelerate revenue growth by selling GE's existing residential conditioning and treatment products through Pentair's sales channels, by gaining access to some of GE's current and emerging filtration technologies."
Under the terms of the agreement, Pentair has an 80% ownership stake and GE has a 20% stake of the joint venture -- Pentair Residential Filtration. In 2007, the combined residential and commercial net sales of the parent companies were approximately $450 million.
The joint venture will bring together approximately 1,100 employees from Pentair and GE in 15 facilities in the United States, Europe and China. Serving as the primary sales channel for Pentair's and GE's respective global residential water filtration and water softener businesses, the venture will also serve as the manufacturing arm for residential and commercial tanks, valves, and some limited filtration products for the parent companies. Both companies will continue to serve existing municipal, commercial and industrial water treatment customers separately, sourcing select products from the joint venture as needed.
"We are excited about the growth opportunities this unique partnership brings our business," said Jeff Garwood, president and CEO, GE Water & Process Technologies. "Partnerships such as this one create an excellent opportunity to develop and introduce new technologies that will meet the needs of both developed and emerging markets. It is also another example of how GE continues to partner with industry leaders to drive growth while meeting the world's most pressing water needs."
