The sensor specialist Sick has bought another German company, the encoder and actuator manufacturer Max Stegmann. No financial details have been released for the deal between the two privately owned firms.

Sick says that the deal completes its factory automation product portfolio and "at a stroke" gives it a significant share of the shaft encoder market. This, in turn, gives it better access to the growing drives technology market.

Stegmann will join Sick`s industrial sensors division, but will continue to operate independently. Stegmann employs about 600 people worldwide, 200 of them located outside Germany in subsidiaries in six countries including the UK and the US. Last year, Stegmann had sales of around €52m. Stegmann`s UK subsidiary will continue to report to its headquarters in Donaueschingen.

Günter Stegmann, the company`s former owner, will stay on as chairman of the supervisory board. He insisted on keeping the Donaueschingen site and the Stegmann name - along with its product identities such as SSI, Core Tec and Hiperface.

Sick, which had a turnover last year of €386m, now has more than 3,000 employees in 23 countries. As well as its industrial sensors division (which produces optical, inductive, magnetic and capacitive sensors), it is also active in the fields of safety systems, auto identification and process analysis.