Vacon Oyj (HEL:VAC1V) Vacon Group press release 25 September 2008

The Finland-based AC drives manufacturer Vacon has signed a distributor agreement with Elo Serviços Indústria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletroeletrônicos Ltda (ELO), one of the largest AC drives distributors in Brazil. Rapidly growing business opportunities in Brazil and South America, especially in the renewable energy sector, have made Vacon to extend its operations in the country.

"We are pleased to announce today that such a major player as ELO has chosen Vacon as their AC drives supplier. With the increasing energy consumption and the growing industry and energy sector, Brazil and South America in general is a lucrative market for energy-saving Vacon AC drives. This will benefit both ELO and Vacon," says Heikki Hiltunen, Executive Vice President, Vacon.

ELO will sell and market Vacon AC drives in its entire power range from 0.25 kW to 5 MW. ELO supplies products to a wide scope of industries ranging from sugar & alcohol to petrochemical.

"Our agreement with ELO follows Vacon's strategy of multi-channel sales that aims for the widest possible geographical coverage. We want to help ELO to provide their customers with what they need and to strengthen ELO's regional presence in Brazil, which is one of the most important countries in South America," says Claudio Luis Baccarelli, Area Manager, South America, Vacon.

"Since the first contact I felt synergy with the Vacon personnel and saw that they treat their customers and partners with respect. At the Vacon Drives Conference in Tallinn, Estonia, last June, this feeling was confirmed. I could also see that Vacon does business with joy, which makes the daily tasks more satisfactory and fruitful. Finally, during the factory visit in Vaasa, Finland, I could verify and analyze the high quality of the manufacturing process and product testing. All this convinced us that this partnership will give good results and encouraged us to become a Vacon partner in Brazil to distribute this valuable brand through our channels," says Adalberon Rodriguez da Cruz, President Director, ELO.

In 2007, Vacon founded a representative office of its own in Barueri, São Paulo. Now Vacon is planning to employ new personnel to meet the increasing demand of AC drives in South America.

Vacon variable speed AC drives bring considerable energy savings and improve process control. These two major benefits provide a huge market potential in South American countries, where the energy infrastructure is being built up and blackouts are frequent. Companies are increasingly adopting the AC drives technology to reduce energy costs. Additionally, complex applications in many industries are using AC drives to gain better efficiency. This is likely to sustain the low-voltage drives market in the coming years.

ELO in brief: Founded in 1999, ELO started as an AC drives service provider. Since 2001, ELO has positioned itself on the market as an AC drives distributor mainly for low-voltage AC drives and low-voltage apparatus. Their service also includes repairing, automation & system integration (cabinet assembly and PLC program development), sales & marketing and field service with 24-hour assistance. ELO is represented all over Brazil and is supporting various market segments.

Vacon in brief: Vacon was established in 1993 from a passion to develop and produce AC drives globally. It is a matter of honour for Vacon to offer customers efficient, reliable and easy to use means for improving process control and saving energy and costs. Vacon's solutions represent clean technology. They can be used to control the speed of electric motors used by industry and municipal engineering, and in power generation using renewable energy. Vacon provides AC drives in the power range 0.25 kW - 5 MW. Revenues in 2007 totalled EUR 232.2 million.

Vacon Group

Further information: * Heikki Hiltunen, Executive Vice President, Products and Markets, Vacon Group, mobile +358 (0)40 8371 609 * Claudio Baccarelli, Area Manager, South America, Vacon Brazil, tel. +55 11 4166-5707, mobile +55 11 8174-9556

Press contact: * Sebastian Linko, Director, Corporate Communications, Vacon Group, mobile +358 (0)40 8371 634

www.vacon.com

Vacon Oyj

http://www.vacon.com

ISIN: FI0009009567

Stock Identifier: XHEL.VAC

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