Washington (Platts)--14Mar2011/922 am EDT/1322 GMT
American Superconductor is buying The Switch Engineering, which makes electrical control systems for wind turbines, for Eur190 million, (US$265 million), American Superconductor said Monday. Switch Engineering, headquartered in Finland, also represents a market opportunity topping $1 billion with its portfolio of permanent magnet generators, which American Superconductor said are a new class of generators being used in an increasing number of geared and direct-drive wind turbines. Switch offers permanent magnet generators of up to 6 MW already being used by several companies in Europe, Asia and the US, American Superconductor said in a statement. The acquisition has been approved by the boards of both companies, and is expected to close, following regulatory approvals and closing conditions, by August 31. American Superconductor expects to finance the deal with about $186 million in cash and the remainder in stock. Based in Devens, Massachusetts, American Superconductor said the deal is expected to be immediately accretive and support the company's growth of power control equipment and systems to support wind turbine manufacturers in China, Europe, Korea and the US. The combination "will create a global wind power powerhouse," that is expected to serve China's three largest wind turbine manufacturers -- Sinovel, Goldwind and Dongfang -- in various capacities, said Greg Yurek, founder and CEO of American Superconductor.--Tom Tiernan, tom_tiernan@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Electric Power Daily. See more information at http://bit.ly/ElectricPowerDaily