The Grundfos Group of Denmark has announced its acquisition of the Indianapolis-based Peerless Pump Co., a deal Grundfos said is its largest acquisition to date.
    Grundfos is  a pump manufacturer with a 2006 revenues of $2.6 billion, some $300 million of that coming from the North American market. Peerless employs more than 100 and boasts annual sales of about $110 million.
    Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Grundfos said its goal is to double its North American sales over the next four years.
    “Grundfos has had a presence in the US market since 1973 and over the last three years we have made a series of major investments in North America to accelerate our growth," said Søren Ø. Sørensen, Grundfos group executive vice president and chairman of Grundfos North America.
    "With the acquisition of Peerless we extend our product range as well as our US sales organization significantly,"  Sørensen said. "We expect a lot from this deal and see great potential for globalization especially of the Peerless fire protection systems.”
    Current Peerless president and CEO Dean Douglas will remain aboard in his current position. Douglas said the acquisition by Grundfos is a "positive move."  
     “We see Grundfos’ acquisition of Peerless as an extremely positive move for our customers as well as for the future security and continued development of our employees, of Peerless Pump itself, and our worldwide sales network," Douglas said. "The synergies between our organizations are significant and will allow Peerless to accelerate the rapid growth we have enjoyed over the past few years.”   
    The Peerless acsquisitioin follows closely on the heels of a rash of moves by Grundfos, including the establishment of a R & D office in Northern California, the establishment of a factory in Mexico and the establishment of a new headquarters in Kansas City.