The Switch to acquire Wärtsilä drives business

The acquisition is expected to be completed by November and is backed by The Switch parent company Yaskawa Group. The Switch will acquire Wärtsilä’s medium- and low-voltage drives business, previously part of the Wärtsilä electrical and automation (E&A) business.

The new investment will provide The Switch with a broader range of marine-optimised products, alongside its existing solutions including permanent magnet technology. Manufacturing and research & development capabilities will also be strengthened by the addition of parts of Wärtsilä’s facilties in Stord, Norway.

Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, president and CEO of The Switch, said: “The Wärtsilä drive products are specially made without compromise for marine applications. These products are ready for integration with various other systems because of their superior communication features, including de facto industry standard interfaces and remote management possibilities. It is also possible to separate the logistics for cabinets and power modules by shipping them later to avoid damages during the long installation times at shipyards.”

Wärtsilä said the move would allow it to focus its E&A business on system-level solutions, including its low-loss propulsion concept and hybrid technologies. Following the acquisition, The Switch will serve as a supply chain partner to Wärtsilä’s E&A business, as the acquired product portfolio will continue to be used in Wärtsilä’s system solutions.

Mäkinen concluded: “At the moment, the oil and gas market is in a slump. Yet, we are taking a longer perspective in our views of this market. Now is good time to engineer future-proof solutions for marine. Once the market picks up, we’ll be ready to implement them.”