DALLAS, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Industrial Technologies, Inc.
(NYSE: GIX) has purchased all of the outstanding shares of Magnesitwerk Aken
GmbH, located in Aken, Germany, for 15 million deutsche marks, approximately
$8.4 million, and the assumption of 25.4 million marks (approximately
$14.2 million) in non-recourse debt.  The new Global acquisition, which joins
Global's Harbison-Walker Refractories subsidiary, expects sales will exceed
63 million DM (approximately $35 million) in calendar 1997.  The transaction
was closed December 31, 1997 at Frankfurt, Germany.
    Magnesitwerk is the newest member of Global's international refractory
production family that includes Refractarios Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. of Mexico
City and Ramos Arizpe, Mexico; Refractarios Chilenos S.A., (RECSA) of
Santiago, Chile; and RECSA-Lota of Concepcion, Chile.
    Magnesitwerk is one of Germany's key producers of refractory technologies,
products and services.  Refractories are heat resistant bricks and monolithic
mineral based products used to line iron and steel, cement, and non-ferrous
foundry production vessels.  Magnesitwerk, supported by 200 employees, exports
products to Russia, the Ukraine, France, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey,
Belgium, and the Middle East.
    The Company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Aken, Germany.
The formerly East German production facility manufactures a line of high
quality magnesite and alumina based proven refractory products.  These
products, technologies, services, and the facility's strategic manufacturing
location, are enabling H-W to compete more effectively in European, C.I.S. and
Middle Eastern steel making, glass, cement, and non-ferrous metals markets.
    Global Industrial Technologies is a major manufacturer of technologically
advanced industrial products supporting high-growth markets worldwide.

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