The US courts have give Siemens the go-ahead to acquire the assets and stock of the medium-voltage drives manufacturer, Robicon, after its parent High Voltage Engineering, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Siemens is paying $184m for the business, which employs around 470 staff worldwide, and achieved sales of $117m last year.

The US district court of Massachusetts in Boston approved the sale on June 30. The transaction has already been cleared by the responsible anti-trust authorities Robicon`s headquarters will remain in Pennsylvania, US, and the business will become a new sub-division of Siemens A&D`s large drives division.

Robicon`s subsidiaries in High Wycombe (UK), Shanghai (China), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Edmonton (Canada), will be integrated into Siemens regional companies. The UK operation - formerly Hill Graham Controls - employs about 50 people.

A&D president Helmut Gierse says that the acquisition "will enable us to continue our expansion in the field of industrial drives. Seen both from a technological and regional viewpoint, this purchase provides an ideal added expansion for us.

"The acquisition will also improve market access to important customers and thus contribute to our efforts to achieve profit-oriented growth," he adds.

Robicon`s president, Gary Rauscher, says "we are very pleased with the results of the sale to Siemens, out of Chapter 11. We see this as an important step for our customers, sales representatives, suppliers and employees."

Robicon is particularly active in the oil and gas, water and waste water, and energy sectors, and the deal will give A&D additional access to these markets for its other products. According to Siemens, the global drives market is worth €25bn and is growing by about 2.5% a year.