Ametek buys Powervar

Ametek, Inc., Berwyn, Pa., has acquired Powervar, a provider of power management and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, for approximately $128 million. Headquartered in Waukegan, Ill., privately held Powervar has annual sales of approximately $70 million.

Powervar makes a broad range of UL and IEC certified products, including transformer-based power conditioners and UPS systems, to serve a wide range of end markets, including medical, life sciences, industrial, retail and telecommunications.

"Powervar is an excellent addition to our power systems and instruments business. Its strong presence in medical and life sciences provides our power businesses with excellent new growth opportunities in these attractive market segments. Its products are highly complementary to our existing power quality and UPS systems. In addition, Powervar provides world-class applications expertise, considerable new product development capability, and best-in-class product quality," said Frank Hermance, Ametek chairman and CEO.

Besides its manufacturing operations in Waukegan, Powervar has sales and service offices in Canada, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom. It joins Ametek's Electronic Instruments Group, which also has offerings in advanced monitoring, testing, calibrating, and display instruments with 2012 sales of $1.9 billion.