PARIS — Ruag Space of Switzerland, continuing its strategy of making tuck-in acquisitions in Europe to consolidate its business, on Dec. 17 said it will purchase the space division of Patria of Finland, a specialist in satellite onboard electronics, for an undisclosed sum.
Zurich-based Ruag has established itself in Sweden and Austria following acquisitions of space-hardware manufacturers in those nations. The company said the current Patria Space workforce of 32 people will form a new company, Ruag Space Finland, once the transaction is finalized by mid-2015 at the latest.
Ruag Space also has a U.S. subsidiary, located in Denver.
In response to SpaceNews inquiries, Ruag said the Finnish government space budget has been flat for the past three years. Finland is a member of the 20-nation European Space Agency and in 2014 committed nearly 20 million euros ($25 million) to agency programs.
ESA member states are guaranteed that 90 percent of their contributions to most ESA programs will return to their national territories in the form of contracts to their industry.
In a statement, Patria said: “Space is clearly more of a core strategic business for Ruag than for us. Patria is now concentrating on other focus areas, compared to which space has been quite minor in size, approximately 30 persons out of our approximately 2,500 total personnel.”
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While declining to provide revenue figures, Patria said its space unit is profitable.
“Patria’s space unit has extensive heritage and skills in satellite electronics. Combined with the skills and knowledge we already have primarily in Sweden, to a smaller extent also in Austria,” Ruag said in its statement. “We see opportunities to develop new products, mainly targeting at the commercial satellite market.”
Ruag Chief Executive Urs Breitmeier said the purchase “gives us the opportunity to broaden our technology base and to enhance our product portfolio in the area of space electronics.”
