Siemens steps in to rescue Robicon Perfect Harmony MV Drives Company from bankruptcy

May 1, 2005

Siemens has stepped in to rescue Robicon, a troubled supplier of medium-voltage variable frequency drives, from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. Siemens will pay approximately US$197.5 million in cash for Robicon’s assets, including the shares of its subsidiaries in the UK (formerly Hill Graham control company), China, Brazil and Canada. Robicon claims to be the world's largest supplier of MV AC drives.

Robicon's parent company High Voltage Engineering (HVE) has been suffering from financial problems for several years. It emerged from an earlier period protected by Chapter 11 last summer, only to announce that it filed for bankruptcy in February this year. The company was forced to make this decision due to the "insufficient liquidity" of the subsidiary's cash flow and the inability to find other sources of funds. The document does not include HVE's international subsidiaries.

Stephen Gray, Robicon's Chapter 11 trustee, chose Siemens Energy and Automation as the preferred "horse-tracking" bidder for other competitors, believing that the Siemens transaction provides the best value for creditors and provides Robicon with security and stability. Of employees, customers, suppliers and partners.

Siemens hopes to expand its medium voltage drive business, and Robicon's product portfolio is said to be its own complement. Siemens said it plans to continue operations at Robicon's headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and retain its employees.

The transaction is subject to approval by the US Bankruptcy Court as a horse-ridden bidder in the competitive bidding process, and regulatory approval, including approval of the transaction under antitrust rules.

In 1999, HVE acquired Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali (ASI) in Italy from Finmeccanica and created ASI Robicon. The transaction includes Hill Graham Controls of Hill Wycombe, a subsidiary of ASI in the UK. Other members of the HVE team include the Evans analysis team in California and the HVE business in the Netherlands.

Robicon's current product portfolio includes: medium voltage AC drives up to 20MW; low-voltage AC drives from 0.37kW-4.2MW; DC drives from 30A-20kA; power control systems, including active harmonic filters; AC and DC motors And generators, including induction, explosion-proof, high-speed and synchronous motors; SCR power controllers; and automation systems.

In December last year, Robicon announced that it claimed the first variable frequency drive capable of generating an output voltage of up to 14.4kV without using a step-up transformer. A single Harmony HV driver can control induction motors and synchronous motors up to 34MW, and by running the drivers in parallel, an output power of 130MW or higher can be achieved.

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