Newtown firm bought out in £900 million deal
One of Mid Wales' biggest companies has been bought out by a Japanese corporation in a deal worth £900 million.
Control Techniques, which employs around 360 people at its global headquarters in Newtown, has been taken over as part of the sale of parent company Emerson Industrial Automation's motors, drives and electric power business to Kyoto-based Nidec Corporation.
The deal also includes Control Techniques' larger sister company, the French firm Leroy-Somer.
Overall the two businesses employ around 9,700 people, and the Control Techniques side of the business, which was established in 1973, has sales of around £282.6 million.
A spokesman for the company said there were "no expected changes" for the operation in Newtown.
Nidec, which has annual sales of more than £6.4 billion, has been on an acquisition spree recently which has seen it take over a number of companies.
In a statement announcing the latest deal, the company said: "The business has a strong brand, solid business foundation and excellent customer base, particularly in Europe and North America.
"The business has experienced a cyclical decline in recent performance as a result of the significant drop in oil prices and weak macro-economic conditions. However, Nidec expects the business to grow as the cycle recovers and as synergies are realized in the mid- to long-term perspective."
Rumours that Control Techniques could be sold first emerged more than a year ago, at which point Emerson said it was "business as usual" and that the business had "tremendous potential".
Control Techniques' manufacturing base in Newtown totals around 160,000 sq ft of space. It also has operations in Germany, China and the USA. Its variable speed drives are used in a variety of industrial products.
