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                                                                    EXHIBIT 99.1




2950 North Loop West, Suite 700
Houston, TX  77092
PHONE: (713) 685-8062   FAX: (713) 683-7841

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Headline:  NATCO announces acquisition                        January 31, 2001
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         NATCO Group has reached agreement to acquire Axsia, Ltd., a privately
held process design company based in the UK, for approximately $47 million.
Axsia specializes in design and supply of water reinjection systems for oil and
gas fields, as well as oily water treatment, oil separation, hydrogen production
and other process equipment systems. The Company, which features such names as
Serck Baker, Howmar and Mozley, is an excellent fit with two smaller, recent
NATCO Group acquisitions in the water processing sector. The acquisition is
expected to be modestly accretive for NATCO earnings in 2001, on Axsia revenues
in the $70-80 million range. The transaction is expected to close by the end of
February and will be financed by bank borrowings.

         Water processing and reinjection from oil and gas production are
expected to be active and growing markets in the years ahead, and Axsia
currently has a strong backlog and good prospects worldwide. "Axsia is a
technology leader and the premiere supplier of water reinjection and related
systems for the oil and gas industry", said Nat Gregory, CEO of NATCO. "It is an
ideal complement to our own process equipment capability and reputation."

         The Company noted that many large international projects, particularly
offshore, involve both NATCO's oil and gas processing systems as well as Axsia's
water processing and reinjection systems. In addition, NATCO provides automation
and control systems through its operating unit, TEST, which further adds to the
breadth of scope in integrated, turnkey supply for customers and therefore
allows better leverage of NATCO and Axsia marketing relationships as well as
greater potential to play an important role with major oil and gas operators at
the critical early stages of a major project. On the execution side, the two
companies' engineering and project management capabilities fit together very
well and since Axsia does not have in-house manufacturing capability, the
combination will be further additive in cases where water processing and
reinjection systems can be fabricated in NATCO facilities. Finally, the
integration of NATCO and Axsia fluid technologies should significantly enhance
the combined product line. "From the customer's point of view, there are
important benefits from consolidating scope of supply and getting the best
technology and project execution from a single source," commented Gregory. "This
is right in line with our strategy of building a world-class Engineered Systems
business."

         The Company also noted that Axsia's employee base and management team
have an excellent track record and strong reputation, and will provide for NATCO
Group a more effective presence in international markets, particularly in the
North Sea, South America, North

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                                                          EXHIBIT 99.1 (Cont'd.)


Africa and the Middle East. There should also be greater leverage and efficiency
in Southeast Asia, where both companies have large projects ongoing and NATCO
recently opened a regional office in Singapore.

         The Company has scheduled a conference call on Thursday February 1,
2001 at 3:00 PM EST to discuss the acquisition. The call will be broadcast on
live http://www.videonewswire.com/NATCO/020101/.

         NATCO Group Inc. is a leading provider of wellhead process equipment,
systems and services used in the production of oil and gas. NATCO has designed,
manufactured and marketed production equipment and services for more than 70
years. NATCO production equipment is used onshore and offshore in most major oil
and gas producing regions of the world.

         Statements made in this press release that are forward-looking in
nature are intended to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and may involve risk and
uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events
or results. Readers are referred to documents filed by NATCO Group Inc. with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form S-1 and the Annual Report
on Form 10-K, which identifies significant risk factors which could cause actual
results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.