GE Acquires Power Conversion Company

Monday, 17 January 2011 12:38

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GE has announced its acquisition of Lineage Power Holdings, Inc., a leading high-efficiency power conversion technology company, for about $520 million. The deal will enable GE Energy to deploy its technology to meet the demand for reliable, high-quality power in cloud computing and mobile internet applications.

“According to recent studies, there will be 1.1 billion smartphones sold globally by 2013,” stated Dan Heintzelman, GE Energy Services president & CEO. “Every new mobile device plugs into an infrastructure that requires an ever increasing amount of high-quality power. The growth in high-bandwidth mobile internet applications and cloud computing is accelerating that demand. A globally networked planet needs a lot of power to keep spinning. Customers want efficient, reliable means to manage that power.”

In a growing data-driven economy, the inclusion of Lineage Power’s business platform will continue the expansion of GE Energy’s offerings, added Heintzelman. Lineage Power complements GE’s core expertise of electricity management. With GE’s influence, it is expected that the acquired business will grow globally and across industries.

“Joining GE will enhance our company’s resources to provide best-in-class energy technologies to our telecommunications and data communications customers,” stated Lineage Power CEO Craig Witsoe. “Our leadership in high-efficiency power conversion solutions has positioned us to serve the explosive growth in mobile internet demand driven by 3G and 4G/LTE wireless networks that enable the Amazon® Kindle™, Apple® iPhone® and iPad™, Google® Android™ smart phones and other mobile devices. We are also bringing to GE exciting new solutions for high-efficiency datacenter architecture, data storage and cloud computing.”

GE is acquiring Lineage Power from The Gores Group, LLC. Ryan Wald, managing director of The Gores Group, said that they had confidence in the considerable potential of Lineage Power when they acquired it three years ago. The power conversion company had revenues of around $450 million last year.

“Through the addition of Craig Witsoe and the efforts of a distinguished global management team with decades of experience in the industrial, technology, power and electronics sectors, the company was stabilized, returned to profitable growth and built into the business it is today. The Gores Group is proud to have provided the financial and operational support as part of that process. The company has a bright future with GE, and we know Lineage Power customers, partners and employees can benefit from GE’s global relationships, resources and brand equity,” Wald added.

The acquisition deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.