Will Heidenhain take over servo maker SEM?

A company sharing directors with measurement and controls supplier Heidenhain (GB) has bought the UK servomotor manufacturer SEM from Bullough for £8m.

SEM’s new owner, Westec Holdings, was formed last November with an authorised share capital of £10m, and includes Heidenhain’s commercial director Michael Laming as a director.

As Drives & Controls went to press, Heidenhain was not available for comment. Bullough’s sale of SEM is part of a plan to divest its specialist engineering businesses to focus on heating and workplace products.

It has also sold its torque tool manufacturer MMH Engineering to a German company for £4.55m and, as we went to press, was still looking for a buyer for Morley, which makes motors for mines. In the six months to the end of April 1999, SEM recorded a pretax profit of £333,000 on a turnover of £4.675m.