Germany's Carl Zeiss Optronics, a unit of Carl Zeiss AG, has bought a 70 percent stake in South Africa's state-owned weapons group Denel's optronics unit, the two companies said on Wednesday.

"Carl Zeiss Optronics has agreed to acquire a majority in Denel's optronics unit as part of the South African company's restructuring process," the companies said in a joint statement.

The companies did not give any financial details about how much the German firm paid for the Denel Optronics stake.

Denel and Carl Zeiss Optronics said they envisaged separate investment in the new business - to be renamed Carl Zeiss Optronics Pty Ltd - of R60-million over three years.

"The funds will be chiefly utilised for product development, the extension and modernisation of the production lines, the expansion of international marketing and the setup of international service centres. IT and project management systems will be additionally upgraded," Carl Zeiss said in a separate statement.

Carl Zeiss Optronics board member Armin Breinig said the two firms' product lines were a good match and his firm now has the possibility of increased market access.

"We are targeting our investments at improving the production process and are aiming to achieve a substantial increase in the revenues of Carl Zeiss Optronics Pty Ltd in South Africa. This will contribute to the growth of the entire company and help to safeguard jobs in Germany also," he said.

Read more at: Independent Online