NEW YORK (AP) -- General Electric Co. announced Thursday it will buy privately held Lineage Power Holdings Inc. in a deal worth $520 million to tap into the growth in data centers, electronic devices and telecommunications.
Lineage Power produces equipment that converts electric power back and forth from alternating current, or AC, to direct current or DC.
This kind of equipment is used both inside personal electronic devices like mobile phones and also to covert electricity from the grid or from generators to power computers inside data centers, telecommunication antennae and other electric industrial equipment.
GE said Thursday the market for power conversion equipment is $20 billion and growing fast.
This is the latest in a string of acquisitions by GE designed to expand the company's energy business. In October GE said it planned to buy Dresser Inc., a company that makes small natural gas-fired turbines, for $3 billion. In December GE offered to buy Wellstream Holdings PLC, which makes pipes and other equipment for deep-water oil production, for $1.3 billion.
Lineage Power is based in Plano, Texas. The company's 2010 revenue was approximately $450 million. It has almost 2,300 employees and manufacturing operations in China, Mexico and India.
GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., is buying Lineage Power from The Gores Group LLC, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter.
GE shares rose 5 cents to $18.72 in morning trading.
Lineage Power produces equipment that converts electric power back and forth from alternating current, or AC, to direct current or DC.
This kind of equipment is used both inside personal electronic devices like mobile phones and also to covert electricity from the grid or from generators to power computers inside data centers, telecommunication antennae and other electric industrial equipment.
GE said Thursday the market for power conversion equipment is $20 billion and growing fast.
This is the latest in a string of acquisitions by GE designed to expand the company's energy business. In October GE said it planned to buy Dresser Inc., a company that makes small natural gas-fired turbines, for $3 billion. In December GE offered to buy Wellstream Holdings PLC, which makes pipes and other equipment for deep-water oil production, for $1.3 billion.
Lineage Power is based in Plano, Texas. The company's 2010 revenue was approximately $450 million. It has almost 2,300 employees and manufacturing operations in China, Mexico and India.
GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., is buying Lineage Power from The Gores Group LLC, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter.
GE shares rose 5 cents to $18.72 in morning trading.