ESCO Announces Strategic Australian Acquisition

PORTLAND, Ore., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- ESCO Corporation (USA), a leading global provider of wear parts and attachments for the mining and construction industry, has accelerated its expansion into Australia with the pending acquisition of the Service/Engineering and Mining Product divisions of Swift Group. This is a key development in ESCO's plan to establish a national customer service, supply chain, and manufacturing network in Australia.

"This is an exciting step for ESCO," said Jeff Kershaw, Managing Director for ESCO's Asia Pacific region. "The reputation and expertise that Swift and its employees have developed over the last 30 years provides a solid platform for ESCO to expand its network of sales and service centers – known as ESCOSupply – throughout Australia's key mining regions. By integrating Swift Group with the ESCOSupply model, we will provide an exceptional level of service to our Australian customers."

ESCO anticipates the acquisition will be finalized in the coming weeks. Upon completion, Swift Group will operate as ESCOSupply and will continue to provide site services, as well as fabrication and refurbishment services via facilities in Mackay and Kingaroy in Queensland. Plans are currently underway to establish additional ESCOSupply locations and independent distributors in other regions of Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. ESCO does not intend to acquire the Cooling division of Swift, which will continue to operate under present management.

ESCO is currently selling crusher wear parts, and bi-metallic buttons and blocks in Australia. As part of the Swift acquisition, the ESCO product offering will now include truck bodies. The majority of ESCO's other products are distributed in Australia through Bradken under a license agreement which is set to expire in June 2011. Upon expiration of the agreement, ESCO will directly supply the Australian market with its complete line of ground engaging tools (GET), wear parts, buckets, and attachments – including ESCO's Profill™ dragline buckets, as well as the SV2™, Posilok® Plus, and Ultralok® tooth systems.

For more information regarding ESCO's operations in Australia please contact:

About ESCO Corporation:

ESCO (www.escocorp.com) is a leading provider of highly engineered consumable products and solutions for mining, construction, recycling, and aerospace applications. Founded in Portland, Oregon (USA) in 1913, ESCO has operations across North America, Latin America, China, Japan, SE Asia, Europe, and Australia with over 3500 employees, supplying ESCO branded products through a global distribution network, delivering superior quality, value and speed.

SOURCE ESCO Corporation