Beijer Electronics has made a series of acquisitions over the last several years which have continued to strengthen its position as a global supplier of industrial automation and networking solutions. Beijer Electronics offers a broad range of products such as HMI, I/O, industrial PCs, drives, control systems, servo/motion, and wireless and wireline networking components. In 2010 Beijer had estimated sales of US $195 million.
Most recently, Biejer completed its acquisition of Korenix Technologies for a total of just over US $20.5 million in early February. Beijer's other acquisitions included QSI Corporation back in November 2010 to broaden its reach in North America and strengthen its portfolio of HMI solutions. Back in early 2008 the acquisition of Westermo had provided the company with its initial foray into serving the data communications segment and to provide greater connectivity for its HMI product lines. Westermo's wireless modems are covered in VDC's Track 1: Competitive Analysis, Volume 1: Global Wireless Networking Products report.
The acquisition completed a strategic collaboration, started back in 2010, between Korenix and subsidiary Westermo who possesses a strong base in Europe. The acquisition gives both companies a broader product range through complementary products, stronger sales channels in Asia and Europe, mutual exchange of technology including Korenix's Ethernet network switches and device servers, which are covered as part of VDC's soon to be published Track 2: Competitive Analysis, Volume 2: Global Wireline Networking Products report.
Through this acquisition Westermo gets access to the broader industrial networking products market with cost effective solutions for market segments such as industrial automation, building automation, and the security and surveillance sector. Korenix will be able to offer an increased product range of robust products for network environments with very high demands on reliability and redundancy. Korenix can benefit from Beijer Electronics' experience and reputation in core markets so as to expand its market exposure. At this time it appears that the two subsidiaries will operate separately within Beijer's Industrial Data Communications business area but with strong cooperation amongst the operations.
The Pac Man activity I began blogging about several months ago (i.e. Spectris grabs N-TRON and Belden buys GarrettCom) continues; something tells me there will be more such blogs to come.
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