Swiss-based company buys Napier firm

By NZPA

Tuesday 13th May 2008

Multinational Zurich-based automation technology group ABB says it has bought Vectek, a New Zealand company with 73 workers and a research centre in Napier.

Vectek will become part of ABB's Automation Products division, and the new unit will be run by John Penny, former chief executive of Vectek, the Swiss company said in a statement.

The New Zealand company specialises in technologies to improve power supply quality in industrial installations.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

"Vectek is an ideal addition to our portfolio of technologies that help customers to increase power reliability, productivity and energy efficiency," ABB's automation products division head Tom Sjoekvist said.

Vectek's high-power electronic converters use AVC (active voltage conditioning) technology to mitigate the effects of voltage surges and sags, variations in power quality which can trigger costly production shutdowns and other problems.

The NZ products include uninterruptible power supplies, power "conditioners" and power factor correction systems and are already used in the United States and Asia.

ABB employs about 840 people in New Zealand.

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