Schneider Electric acquires Chinese medium voltage drives company

14 June 2011

Schneider Electric has signed an agreement to acquire Leader Harvest Power Technologies Holdings Limited, which is said to be a leading player in the fast-growing medium voltage drives market in China.

Headquartered in Beijing the company develops, manufactures and commercialises medium
voltage (MV) variable speed drives. With an annual growth rate in excess of 20% in the past few years, the company is expected to generate sales of around €100 million for the current year.

Leader & Harvest will offer Schneider Electric technical competency in MV drive technology, a key energy efficiency enabler. Schneider Electric recently estimated that energy efficiency would represent an incremental market opportunity of USD45 billion annually by year 2020, a significant portion of which it believes will come from the industrial end-markets in new economies.

Drives can provide up to 50% energy savings for industrial motors. MV drives are particularly used in energy-intensive markets such as power generation, mining, minerals and metals, oil and gas, water and water treatment. It is estimated that about 70% of the world’s medium voltage motors are not yet equipped with drives.