Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Degree Controls sells minority stake to Japanese partner

By Rodney H. Brown

Degree Controls Inc., a New Hampshire maker of cooling technology, has sold a minority stake in the company to Tokyo-based Yamatake Corp. for $2.5 million in cash, according to a release.

Milford-based Degree Controls said in the release that having Yamatake as an investor will help expand the reach of its products in the Japanese market, and Asia in general. The two companies signed a sales agreement in 2009 that had Yamatake selling Degree Controls’ AdaptivCOOL line of products for data centers in Japan.

Under the new agreement that the investment is part of, Degree Controls and Yamatake will expand their “strategic business partnership beyond AdaptivCOOL to sales and technological development of flow sensors and controllers.” Already the 75-person Degree Controls has sales offices in China and Japan, and an engineer facility in India.

In February 2011, Degree Controls started offering a line of controllers and airflow sensors to the food service equipment industry, according to the company’s website.