Schneider Electric acquires SCADAgroup

Schneider Electric has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire SCADAgroup, an Australian-based leading provider of telemetry products and solutions for the water and wastewater, oil and gas and electric power end-market segments.

Telemetry is a key technology that allows the remote measurement, monitoring, control and data transfer of infrastructures scattered over a wide area or that are hard to access. SCADAgroup has operations throughout North America, the UK and Australia and employs over 500 staff. It is expected to generate revenues in excess of AU$110 million for the current fiscal year ending in June 2010.

The company provides a portfolio of products and solutions for telemetry applications including:

• a SCADA software allowing consolidation and monitoring of key information on the process communication devices using radio for the transmission of information
• a wide offer of remote terminal units (RTU) that collect and consolidate information from the field
• wireless sensors to monitor key variables such as flow, temperature and pressure

In addition, the company has strong project execution capabilities and provides its customers with valued-added services which represent an important part of its revenues.

Through this acquisition, Schneider Electric acquires technologies and product offers to be pushed through its channels, and execution and service capabilities that are complementary to its own in the water, waste-water, and oil and gas segments - the segments where best levels of energy efficiency are achieved with integrated solutions combining industry automation and power.

The closing of the transaction, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to occur soon. The purchase price of the transaction, expressed as an enterprise value, is AU$200 million. This acquisition should be accretive on earnings per share from year 1 and meets Schneider Electric’s Return on Capital Employed criteria.