GE Oil & Gas Goes Deeper into China (GE)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has an interesting acquisition this morning, one that is far from its normal acquisition of the past.  The company’s GE Oil & Gas unit has entered into a agreement to acquire a minority equity interest in Shenyang Turbo Machinery Corporation.  This company is a large-scale Chinese state-owned enterprise, and it is dedicated to designing and manufacturing turbomachinery equipment and the main operating subsidiary of Shenyang Blower Works Group Company Ltd.  SBW Group has its headquarters in Shenyang and was first founded in 1934 for centrifugal and reciprocating compressors and pumps for application in the domestic petrochemical, fertilizer, coal, natural gas transportation, and power industries.

The domestic installed base includes over 1,850 large-scale centrifugal compressors, 1,059 large water pumps, and 885 reciprocating compressors.  Its customers include China Petrochemical Corporation, China National Petroleum Corporation, Linde, JSW Steel Limited, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

This agreement was signed today in Shenyang by Mr. Su Yongqiang, Chairman of SBW Group and Fernando Bertoni, General Manager of Business Development for GE Oil & Gas in the presence of Mayor Chen Haibo and other senior government officials. It also has 13 subsidiaries and more than 6,000 employees; its sales for 2008 were roughly $700 million after 14% growth in the prior year.

The companies have been working alongside each other in the West-to-East gas pipeline infrastructure project that spans 13 provinces and autonomous regions.  Financial terms are not disclosed in the press release.

JON C. OGG