Wärtsilä Corporation, 23 September 2016 at 10 am EET – Wärtsilä has agreed to divest its power drives business to Finland based The Switch. The divestment will encompass Wärtsilä’s Medium and Low Voltage power drives specialised for marine applications. The assets include the company’s test centre and parts of its manufacturing facilities in Stord, Norway. This business has earlier been a part of Wärtsilä’s Electrical & Automation (E&A) business line. Following the acquisition, the Switch will serve as one of the supply chain partners to Wärtsilä’s E&A business. The divestment is expected to be completed latest in November this year.
The move will enable Wärtsilä’s Norway E&A activities to be focused on its core business of offering system level solutions. The Switch, a member of the Japanese Yaskawa Group, specialises in advanced drive train technology for renewable energy and special industry applications. The products involved will continue to be an important part of Wärtsilä’s E&A offering, since they are optimised for marine applications and are proven elements within Wärtsilä systems. Wärtsilä will retain its expertise in application know-how and engineering and will continue to emphasise full system solutions such as the so called Low Loss Concept and hybrid solutions.
