Jim Young, VP Strategy, Lighting at Legrand explained to me about their decision to buy Encelium from private equity company Skyview Capital. Their initial interest was not strong, but as they looked into the business, the realized there was far less overlap than they initially thought. He explained, “The Encelium strengths were complimentary to Watt Stopper, and it was a good fit.” He further explained that they were especially attracted to the fact that Encelium was more of a global company whereas Wattstopper is primarily sold in North America.
He also explained that the in-fixture control of Encelium technology was very appealing.
At this point, the plan is to maintain an Encelium office in Toronto as they will look at various parts of the business and integrate into the Legrand. He believes that the Legrand scale will help with supply chain availability, saying “We have a substantial supply chain infrastructure and a service structure that will benefit Encelium customers.”
He went on to say that they will align Encelium with the existing Wattstopper rep network.