OREANDA-NEWS. Hitachi Ltd. said it will absorb subsidiary Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. on April 1 to improve efficiency in its infrastructure business, an area the group positions as a key growth driver.

Hitachi Plant Technologies designs and builds water treatment systems, industrial plants and other facilities. Hitachi established the firm in 2006 by merging part of its electrical machinery segment with group infrastructure-related firms.

Hitachi had turned the publicly traded company into a wholly owned unit in 2010 as part of efforts to ramp up its infrastructure operations. The subsidiary logged sales of 334.3 billion yen and a net profit of 3.4 billion yen for the fiscal year that ended last March.

The move comes as Hitachi accelerates its group reorganization, with listed subsidiaries Hitachi Metals Ltd. (5486) and Hitachi Cable Ltd. (5812) slated to merge in April.