Drekan Group buy the VRT Power assets
France, Beautor: Axciss has signed the acquisition of all the assets of transformer manufacturer VRT-Power (formerly Vonroll Transformer).
Image source: Drekan Group
France, Beautor: Axciss has signed the acquisition of all the assets of transformer manufacturer VRT-Power (formerly Vonroll Transformer).
This buyback includes the entire production tool, the test means as well as the industrial property of VRT-Power, an asset that will allow the group to manufacture and market internationally a very good range of products ranging from the 400 kVA HTA / LV distribution transformer to the HVB power transformer of 500 MVA through certain specific equipment such as power rectifiers which will have their place in the H2-Powerlab project. Before it ceased operations at the end of 2020, VRT-Power had sales of $50 M and employed around 250 people in its Israeli factory, the activity also contributed to the maintenance of nearly 200 indirect jobs. Validation of this relocation project in Europe by Axciss, possibly on its site of Beautor, is very good news for the management of the group. It should be noted that the transformer market is not experiencing the crisis since it is expected to drop from $17.9 B (€15 B) in 2020 to nearly $29.7 B (€25 B) in 2025, notably drawn for renewable energies or electromobility.
VRT Power, created in 1949, specializes in power transformers up to 650 MVA under 400 KV. The range of VRT Power taken over by Axciss includes also more specific equipment (rectifier transformers, zigzag, traction transformers, SVC, step-up, etc.) or mobile HTB substations very similar to those already operated by Drekan-Power-Rental.
The operation provides exceptional production and test equipment that will allow the company to strengthen the capacities of its site of Beautor if validated to host VRT activity.
The new VRT-Power team has an ambitious, but realistic scaling-up plan. The lines dedicated to distribution transformers as well as step-up transformers (for wind or solar projects in particular) will be revived as a priority at the beginning of 2022, followed by those relating to HVB transformers from 2023. The production of very high-power equipment (> 100 MVA) should be done in a much more gradual manner to return to its historical level by 2025 or 2026. The final choice of the implantation site that will host the VRT activity has yet to be validated.
Source: Drekan Group