12 November 2003 - Wärtsilä and Citec Engineering Oy Ab of Vaasa, Finland have today signed an engineering partnership agreement concerning the Engineering functions of Wärtsilä's Power Plants division.

Under the terms of the agreement, Wärtsilä will in future purchase the power plant engineering services in Finland from Citec. Citec has already earlier taken care of documentation for power plants.

The engineering partnership agreement is part of Wärtsilä's goal to quickly react to fluctuations in power plant markets and more clearly to focus on its core activities, which are developing power plant concepts, marketing, and implementing projects. Citec for its part is focusing its resources on developing power plant engineering competence and related IT software.

The agreement comes into force on 1 December 2003. The personnel of the Engineering functions of Wärtsilä's Power Plants division, 55 people, will transfer to the service of Citec, retaining their existing employee rights.

Wärtsilä chose Citec Engineering Oy as its partner after an extensive analysis. Citec has 15 years' experience of power plant engineering and also has experience of working with other international companies.

Following this agreement Citec Group has 400 employees, about half of which are in Vaasa. The company's 2003 net sales are estimated at €19m ($22m).