Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- LS Industrial Systems (LSIS), an electric power and industrial equipment producer, vowed to become a global player through preemptive investment after it acquired a division of Parker-Hannifin, a leading U.S. energy storage solution company.

LSIS  created a U.S.-based company, LS Energy Solutions, through the acquisition of Parker's Charlotte-based EGT (energy grid tie) division which provides multi-technology solutions. LS Energy Solutions would retain all U.S. sales, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities of the EGT division while operating it as a separate entity.

"With this acquisition, we have secured the outpost of global market penetration," LSIS CEO Koo Ja-kyun said Wednesday in a statement. "It is our long-term goal to become a global player that will lead the industry trend, and to preoccupy the market through preemptive investment."

Financial terms were not disclosed. LSIS said that through the acquisition of Parker's EGT division, it could share a global sales network, production, research and development facilities and personnel with its American partner.

"Combining our PCS (power conversion system) and system integration capabilities with LSIS’s full line of electric power products like switchgear, circuit breakers and contactors will make us a competitive one-stop shop for energy storage offerings for both behind and in front of the power meter," LS Energy Solutions president Jim Hoelscher said in a separate statement.

"With energy storage being a key strategic focus for us, we will continue to expand in R&D and testing facilities to support development that can help our customers realize more reliable and cost-efficient advanced energy storage solutions," Oh Jae-seok, who heads LSIS' power solution business group, was quoted as saying.

Demands for an effective energy storage system, which captures cheap electricity at night for use during peak daytime hours, are on the rise. In July, LSIS and Macquarie Capital Korea jointly won a deal to build and manage energy storage systems for SeAH, a domestic steel group.