Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) has agreed to acquire the ELO Sistemas e Tecnologia Ltda. (“ELO Tecnologia”). The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2006. ELO Tecnologia sells, installs and services electric meters, automatic meter reading (AMR) equipment and related systems in Brazil and elsewhere in South America. Meter services provided by ELO Tecnologia include field investigation services, theft and inaccurate meter analysis, installation and other services.
ELO Tecnologia has been Itron’s distributor in South America since November 2004 and has been manufacturing Itron’s CENTRON solid-state electricity meters in Brazil since June 2005. Together, the two companies sold more than 85,000 CENTRON meters to utilities in Brazil in 2005, and have received orders for an additional 40,000 CENTRON meters to date in 2006. There are approximately 60 million installed electricity meters in Brazil. The estimated market opportunity is approximately 3 million meters annually and is expected to grow.
Once the acquisition closes, Itron will have offices and a manufacturing assembly facility in Campinas and Sao Paulo, with approximately 80 employees performing sales, manufacturing, field investigations, installations and other services, and administrative functions.
“ELO Tecnologia has an excellent reputation for quality and innovation and long standing customer relationships in South America,” said Doug Staker, Itron’s vice president and general manager, international. “The CENTRON product has been well received and the business case for solid-state meters is good.”
Itron is a leading technology provider and critical source of knowledge to the global energy and water industries. Nearly 3,000 utilities worldwide rely on Itron technology to provide the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron creates value for its clients by providing industry-leading solutions for electricity metering; meter data collection; energy information management; demand response; load forecasting, analysis and consulting services; distribution system design and optimization; web-based workforce automation; and enterprise and residential energy management.
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