• Parker Hannifin has acquired a 70% stake in Kuroda Pneumatics, a Japanese company which manufactures pneumatic actuators, cylinders, valves, controls and related products. Kuroda, which employs 150 people, had sales last year worth around $50m. It is part of Kuroda Precision Industries, in which Parker holds a 33% stake.

• Magnetek will, in future, design and manufacture direct DC (DDC) drives for crane and hoist applications for Eaton in North America. The drives, incorporating Eaton components, will be sold under the Magnetek OmniPulse name. DDC drives are expected to displace traditional DC drives in overhead materials-handling and industrial process control applications.

• Siemens in buying Controlotron, a US manufacturer of clamp-on flowmeters. The company, based in New York state, has a staff of around 120 people.

• Schneider Electric is buying Merten, a German company specialising in low-voltage control systems for buildings. The company, which employs 600 people, had sales last year worth almost €100m.

• ACS-Tech 80, the Israeli company which manufactures multi-axis motion control systems for OEMs operating in high-tech fields such as semiconductors and medical scanners, has changed its name to ACS Motion Control.