• Lenze has sold its brakes and clutches business to a management team, which has renamed the business Intorq. The €26m turnover company, which employs around 100 people at its plant in Aerzen, Germany, will continue to use Lenze designations for its products, which will be sold and serviced by Lenze worldwide.

• The German drives systems supplier Baumüller has bought the assets of the machinery installer Nürmont which was declared bankrupt in April. The rescue will save 250 jobs.

• Pekka Paasivaara, former managing director of Bosch Rexroth`s drives and controls business, has joined Lenze as the board member responsible for sales, service and marketing. Paasivaara, a Finn who previously worked for ABB`s robots operation, sees the internationalisation of Lenze as one his key tasks.

• National Instruments has acquired the operating assets of Measurement Computing, which provides low-cost data acquisition products. The business will be run as a wholly owned NI subsidiary from its Massachusetts site, and will continue to use its existing distribution channels.

• The Swedish automation supplier Beijer Electronics has bought the Taiwanese HMI manufacturer Hitech Electronics from its UK parent, Densitron Technologies, for around £8.5m. Hitech, whose sales last year were around £8.7m, is estimated to have 15-20% of the Chinese and Taiwanese market for operator terminals

• Parker Aerospace has bought Mechatronic Systems, a tiny Californian company specialising in high-temperature controls, power drives and electric machines. The four employees will join Parker`s Control Systems Division..

• SKF is buying the Taiwanese actuator manufacturer Jaeger Industrial for an undisclosed sum. Jaeger, which employs 750 people and has annual sales worth around £23.6m, makes electromechanical actuators and controls at plants in Taiwan and China.

• The British miniature slip-ring manufacturer IDM has joined forces with the US high-speed data slip-ring specialist Electro-Tec, and the Canadian fibre optic rotary joint and multiplexer supplier Focal, under the joint umbrella of Kaydon Power and Data Technologies.