UCD spinout Cylon has been acquired by Swiss tech company ABB. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cylon, which employs c.100 people, provides building automation and HVAC control solutions for commercial and retail buildings, schools and healthcare facilities.
Cylon was established by Seán Giblin (pictured) in 1985 to commercialise engineering research carried out by him at UCD. One of the earliest spinouts from the university, Cylon also signed up UCD as a customer, installing its Active Energy system throughout the university.
The business started out manufacturing building control systems, and in 2012 launched an energy management division providing cloud-based services.
Cylon was also on the acquisition trail in the last decade, buying a division of Teletrol, the US-based building automation system developer that was previously owned by Dutch electronics company Philips.
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Cylon acquired the Teletrol division in 2013; it followed this up in 2014 with the acquisition of American Auto-Matrix, another US-based player in the building automation system sector. The Dublin business acquired the rest of Teletrol in 2018.
Filed accounts for 2018 show that Cylon Controls Ltd grew turnover by 24% to €15.5m. The business booked a net profit of €519,000 and closed the year with net worth of €11m.
Cylon had equity investments of €7m on its books at end 2018. CEO Seán Giblin held a 40% shareholding, with ESB’s Novus Modus fund also holding a c.40% stake in the business – it invested €6.5m in the business in 2014.
ABB is a Swedish-Swiss multinational headquartered in Zurich. The business comprises five divisions: electrification, industrial automation, drives and motors, robotics and power grids – the latter division will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 144,000 employees.
“The acquisition will further enhance our portfolio of solutions for the commercial buildings segment, with a particular focus on delivering new innovations in energy optimisation and comfort,” said Oliver Iltisberger, ABB’s head of smart buildings.
Giblin commented that he was excited to see Cylon become part of ABB. “It is]a company that shares our commitment and passion for increasing comfort, energy and operational efficiency within buildings,” he stated
