Franklin Electric buys Oregon company

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Franklin Electric Co. has acquired Cerus Industrial Inc., based in Hillsboro, Ore. Cerus designs, manufactures, and distributes motor controls, motor starters, contactors, protection devices, and variable frequency drives to a wide range of distributor and original equipment manufacturers in North America who serve three

primary markets: HVAC, industrial motor sales and service, and pumping

systems. 2011 sales for Cerus were approximately $14 million.

Franklin Electric, based in Bluffton, has agreed to pay $25.7 million in an all-cash transaction.

In a statement announcing the purchase of Cerus, Scott Trumbull, Franklin chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Cerus has deep technical and manufacturing strengths in several areas that are of strategic interest to Franklin Electric including variable frequency drives, starters and control panels. The demand for electronic drives and controls for pumping applications is growing

rapidly because these devices allow our customers to reduce energy cost, increase system life, and manage system parameters such as pressure and flow. While Franklin has been a leader in applying drive and control technologies to groundwater pumping systems, we believe that the Cerus acquisition will enable us to further accelerate our growth by increasing our technical and product development capacity, broadening our product line, reducing our manufacturing costs and moving us into adjacent market areas."