MONTREAL, Nov 29, 2006 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) — Groupe Laperriere & Verreault Inc. (TSX:GLV.B), a specialist in solid-liquid separation technology, is paying $110 million to acquire industrial materials separation specialist Krebs International of Tucson, Ariz., plus six subsidiaries.

Groupe Laperriere, based in Montreal, said Krebs is expected to contribute about $110 million during the first year following closure of the deal and will expand the parent company’s presence in the oil and gas market.

“Furthermore, this acquisition meets three of GL&V’s key objectives, which are: to consolidate our position in the global ore processing industry by completing our customers’ process flowsheets; to accelerate our development in certain other buoyant markets including energy; and to increase our aftermarket business in order to benefit from a solid stream of recurring revenues yielding attractive profit margins,” chairman and chief executive Laurent Verreault said in a statement.

Krebs, based in Tucson, Ariz., has six wholly-owned subsidiaries in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Austria, South Africa and China. The company designs, manufactures and markets high-performance liquid-solid separation equipment for heavy industries, mainly metals and minerals processing.

The deal, expected to close on or before Dec. 4, will see Groupe Laperriere pay $98 million in cash and assume $12 million in debt.