Ian Colepeper Leads Restructured MRE group in 'taking aim at Europe'

10 Aug 1994
Business Day
Copyright 1994, McCarthy Information Services
South Africa

The restructuring of Murray & Roberts Engineering (MRE) was the group's first move to gain a foothold in the lucrative European automotive market, analysts said yesterday.

MRE Managing Director Ian Colepeper said last week that several sectors within the organisation would undergo structural changes. The most significant of these was the establishment of a 17-million rand plant to produce alloy wheels in Port Elizabeth.

The restructuring was in line with MRE's 100-million rand acquisition of the UK's largest alloy wheels manufacturer, Alloy Wheels International, in May. AWI was a subsidiary of AAF Industries, one of the main causes of W & A Investment's crippling losses during the last financial year.

AWI supplied 1.6-million alloy wheels a year to equipment manufacturers in Europe and the US, including Jaguar, Lotus, Fiat, Ford and General Motors. It provided MRE with an effective pipeline into this market.

Colepeper said the 6.5 billion rand Alusaf aluminium smelter under construction in Richards Bay would position SA as one of the world's major aluminium suppliers.

'It is in line with this that MRE has to continue developing its local facilities - the majority of which are based in PE. We wish to achieve world-class competitiveness and meet future expected global demand for aluminium products,' he said.

MRE closed its iron foundry in Alberton earlier this year. This led to the relocation of equipment used for the manufacture of automotive safety components to the PE foundry.

Colepeper said the relocation, along with other upgrading measures, had cost 7.7 million rand and had created 50 jobs in PE.

Other companies affected by the restructuring process were Donkin Engineering, Yukon Coil, Luft Industries and Ventline.

Culpepper Ancestry. Ian (now retired) is Ian George Colepeper, son of John Ernest Colepeper of South Africa, son of George Kopper Colepeper of South Africa (b 1862, Barbados), son of Francis Culpeper (b 1825, Barbados).