Deutsche Bank Comments On American Superconductor Acquisition Of Switch Engineering Oy

In a report published by Deutsche Bank, American Superconductor AMSC today announced the acquisition of The Switch Engineering Oy, a power technologies company headquartered in Finland.

Deutsche Bank said that, in conjunction with the acquisition, management also lowered guidance. DB is advising AMSC on the transaction. “The Switch is a power technologies that sells power converter systems and permanent magnet generators to wind turbine manufacturers in China, Europe, Korea and the US. The Switch produces power converter systems (PCS) from 1 megawatt to 6 megawatt. PCS are a subsystem of electrical control systems (ECS), which are produced by AMSC. With this acquisition, AMSC will seek to enhance the performance of its PCS and ECS offerings and reduce cost. The Switch also manufactures permanent magnet generators (PMG). These are generators that are utilized inside an increasing number of geared and direct drive wind turbines. The Switch offers PMGs in low, medium and high speed- up to 6MW. The combined company will serve China's three largest wind turbine manufacturers - Sinovel, Goldwind and Dongfang - in various capacities and also strengthen AMSC's presence in western markets with access to customers like GE. For CY2010, The Switch generated $179mln in sales and $15mln in net income.”

American Superconductor closed yesterday at $24.28.