Shanghai, China--6 Feb--PRNewswire-AsiaNet/InfoQuest KONE, one of the largest elevator and escalator companies in the world, has signed a share subscription agreement to become a minority shareholder in THIEN NAM, which is the leading elevator and escalator company in Vietnam. KONE's investment into THIEN NAM further deepens the cooperation, which was started via a distributorship agreement to cover Vietnam but also Cambodia in June 2006. THIEN NAM’s nation-wide maintenance network and KONE’s world-class products create a unique combination in Vietnamese elevator and escalator market. The Vietnamese market is growing rapidly, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to domestic construction for residential and infrastructure developments, overseas companies are increasingly investing in Vietnam thereby further fueling the construction demand. The demand for elevators and escalators is expected to continue to increase also due to Vietnam's WTO membership, which started earlier this year. THIEN NAM delivers annually over 500 units to customers in Vietnam and maintains approximately 2,500 elevators and escalators. The company is the leading elevator supplier in Vietnam with an approximately 30% share of the new equipment market and the largest maintenance base. THIEN NAM has its principal office and factory in Ho Chi Minh City and a sales and service network covering all of Vietnam. KONE is one of the world's leading elevator and escalator companies founded in Finland in 1910. It provides its customers with industry-leading elevators and escalators and innovative solutions for their maintenance and modernization. KONE also provides maintenance of automatic building doors. With approximately 800 service centers around the world, KONE delivers nearly 30,000new elevators and escalators annually and has a maintenance base of approximately 600,000 elevators and escalators and 250,000 automatic building doors. In 2006, KONE had annual net sales of approximately EUR 3.6 billion and 29,000 employees. Its class B shares are listed on the Helsinki Exchange inFinland. www.kone.com SOURCE: KONE CONTACT: Arttu Salmenhaara Managing Director, KONE Asia South, Shanghai, +65 6424 6200, [email protected] Web site: http://www.kone.com --Distributed by AsiaNet ( www.asianetnews.net )--