• Japan`s Mabuchi Motor is building a $40m factory in Vietnam to produce small motors and electronics. The plant, due on stream in mid-2006, will initially make about 100 million motors a year, but this number could triple by 2010. About 6,000 jobs will be created.

• National Instruments has acquired the assets of the PC-based data acquisition and instrumentation specialist, IOtech. The company will be run as an NI subsidiary and will continue to use existing sales channels and distributors. One of its key strengths is in portable vibration monitoring equipment.

• Autodesk has bought a Canadian 3D graphics technology developer, Alias, for $182m. Alias` products include sketching, animation, design, modelling, rendering and reviewing systems

• HepcoMotion has bought a factory and offices on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea, to expand the activities of its subsidiary, HepcoMotion Korea, which it set up in 1999.

• The French energy group Areva has sold its connector manufacturing subsidiary, FCI, to a private investment firm, Bain Capital. FCI employs about 13,000 staff worldwide and had sales last year of €1.29bn.

• Siemens Automation and Drives has acquired a controlling interest in CePLuS Steuerungstechnik, which specialises in anti-sway systems for cranes. Siemens will combine its Touchmatic/Hipac technology with CePLuS` Cesar maxx, to bring products to the market faster.

• The global market for machine tool products is growing by 5.2% a year and will exceed $84bn by 2009, predicts the market analyst, Freedonia. Much of the existing installed base in Western countries needs to be modernised and upgraded after several years of underinvestment, it says.