Drives and Controls Magazine
Home
Menu

Ametek acquires Germany’s Dunkermotoren for €250m

27 April, 2012

The acquisitive California-based Ametek corporation has bought the German motion control specialist, Dunkermotoren from its private equity owner, Triton, for around €250m. Triton itself acquired the business for €145m from Alacatel-Lucent in 2010. The new acquisition, which is subject to German government approval, is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2012.

Dunkermotoren, founded in 1950, is predicted to generate sales worth around  €155m this year. As well as its headquarters and a manufacturing facility in Bonndorf, Germany, it has manufacturing operations in China and Serbia.

“We are excited about the opportunity to acquire an outstanding company in Dunkermotoren,” says Ametek’s chairman and CEO, Frank Hermance. “Dunkermotoren is a global leader in highly engineered advanced motion control solutions for niche applications. It is an excellent strategic and highly complementary fit with our Precision Motion Control business.

“It expands our leadership position in niche rotary and linear motion applications,” he adds. “In addition, it broadens our manufacturing capabilities in both Europe and China, and greatly expands our presence in key industrial end-markets."

Since buying Dunkermotoren in 2009, Triton claims to have has turned it into a European market leader as a result of targeted operational improvements, investment in research and development, and the internationalisation of production and sales.

"Even in a challenging market phase, we invested especially in research and development, thus retaining the company`s ability to innovate," says a Triton spokesperson. "As well as making targeted acquisitions in the field of technology and expanding our presence in the US, China and Europe, we have extended our product range and sales network, all of which has strengthened the company`s ability to compete in the long term." In addition, after its takeover by Triton, the company continued to invest in training and jobs, creating around 250 new jobs.

Dunkermotoren now employs around 750 people. It manufactures advanced brush and brushless motion control systems for a wide range of applications, including factory equipment, office machines, medical devices and laboratory equipment. Its portfolio includes brushed and brushless DC motors, small AC motors, gearboxes, controllers, gateways, encoders, brakes and venetian blind drives.

Last year, Dunkermotoren bought the UK-based Copley Motion Systems (CMS) linear motor business from the US-based Analogic Corporation, which had itself acquired the business when it bought Copley Controls for $69m in 2008. The new acquisition returns the UK operation, formerly known as Linear Drives, to US ownership.

Dunkermotoren will become part of Ametek Precision Motion Control, a division of Ametek`s Electromechanical Group, which had sales worth $1.3bn in 2011. The group is a leader in electrical interconnects, specialty metals, technical motors and associated systems.

Its parent corporation, Ametek Inc, manufactures electronic instruments and electromechanical devices and has annual sales worth $3.3bn. It has about 12,500 employees working at more than 100 manufacturing facilities and more than 100 sales and service centres in the US and around the world.