The Grundfos Group, with headquarters in Denmark, has acquired Peerless Pump Company. Peerless is a US based manufacturer of pumps and fire protection systems with more than 400 employees and annual sales of USD 110 million. This is Grundfos’ largest acquisition to date, as it continues its aggressive growth strategy in North America.

Today, Grundfos’ sales in North America are USD 300m. The US pump market alone is estimated to be USD 6bn, so the business potential for Grundfos is huge. With the latest acquisition, Grundfos expects to double sales within a four year period reaching USD 600m. Carsten Bjerg, Group President and CEO of Grundfos Group, comments: "Recently we have focused on growing our business globally, especially in Eastern Europe, Asia and North America. The US market has a significant growth potential and seen in that perspective the acquisition of Peerless is of great strategic importance to Grundfos.” Søren Ø. Sørensen, Group Executive Vice President and Chairman of the Board of Grundfos in North America, says: “Grundfos has had a presence in the US market since 1973 and with the acquisition of Peerless we extend our product range as well as our US sales organization significantly.”

Dean E. Douglas, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peerless, states: “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 world wide sales network. The synergies between our organizations are significant and will allow Peerless to accelerate the rapid growth we have enjoyed over the past few years.” According to the company’s press release, Mr. Douglas will continue in his present position as President and CEO of Peerless with reference to the Grundfos Group’s new Regional Managing Director, Jes Munk Hansen.