Grupo Arbulu, Spain – 6th July 2012: grupoarbulu (www.grupoarbulu.com) the largest marine electronics group in Spain and one of the largest in Europe, has acquired 80% of the South African company SMD Telecommunications (www.smd-marine.com ), one of the market leaders in marine electronics service for commercial vessels in Africa.

SMD Telecommunications is based in Cape Town (South Africa) performs installation and servicing of navigational and communication equipment onboard vessels from its three service centres in South Africa (Cape Town, Durban and Richards Bay). The area of operations covers Africa south of the Sahara. The service engineers work internationally onboard vessels, at anchorage and off port limits.

Aage Hempel Int is part of Grupo Arbulu, and therefore this acquisition also enables Aage Hempel Int as a Group Member to better serve its customers in African Countries where previously we have had some problems. This acquisition is a very important move and strenghtens the Grupo Arbulu´s position as one of the major players in the field of Marine Electronics within the maritime sector.