Drilling consumables company, Mincon Group, acquired Driconeq, a global supplier of drill pipes and accessories for down-the-hole (DTH), rotary and reverse-circulation applications.

With this acquisition, another 125 staff members will join the Mincon Group. Driconeq currently has factories in Sunne, Sweden; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Perth, Australia. An integral part of the group is the heat treatment business, HARDtekno, located in Kristinehamn in Sweden.

According to Mincon, the factories are an excellent fit for its manufacturing and business footprint, being close to existing key Mincon facilities and management, and giving the company a worldwide brand in drill pipe and associated products.

Mincon's current drill pipe manufacturer, Viqing Group, which it acquired last year, will be combined with the Driconeq Group and add its rapidly building sales to this product category for the group. The management teams in Sunne, where both businesses are headquartered, will be merged as agreed.

Joe Purcell, chief executive officer of Mincon, says: "We are delighted to add these businesses and their teams to our group. We are at heart an engineering group, an industrial group, and these businesses should receive an opportunity to grow and develop over the coming years."

The net assets being acquired total approximately $5.48 million. There is no debt being brought on as part of the transaction.

Mincon Group was founded in 1977 in Shannon, Ireland. Mincon manufactures and distributes a range of precision engineered hard rock drilling tools for a variety of industries including mining, exploration, water well, geothermal, construction, horizontal directional drilling, oil-gas and energy. For more information about Mincon Group, visit Mincon.com.