Last modified: Sunday, June 20, 2004 1:00 AM EDT Pa. company buys local firm BY HENRY REILEY/ SUN CHRONICLE STAFF MANSFIELD -- C&D Technologies of Blue Bell, Pa., will buy Datel Inc., of 11 Cabot Blvd. While terms of the all-cash purchase were not disclosed, C&D's president Wade Roberts said in a conference call with analysts that the price was between $50 million and $100 million. Roberts declined to comment on specifics of how the operations of the two companies would dovetail other than to say the top management would remain with Datel except that the most senior manager, who had become an absentee owner in recent months, would be leaving. Datel has nearly 400 employees, most of whom are in Mansfield. The deal is expected to close, pending regulatory approval, before the end of the C&D's second quarter which ends July 31. C&D is an international manufacturer of products for the industrial power systems market including electrical power storage and conversion products. C&D has in 10 manufacturing and research and development facilities, including two in Mexico and one in China. The others are in the United States. Datel says it has achieved leadership status in all three of its major product lines: DC/DC converters, digital panel voltmeters and data acquisition and conversion components. The largest of Datel's product lines, representing about two-thirds of its business, deals in power supplies and DC/DC converters used in a wide array of applications including telecommunications, data communications, networking and wireless communications. Datel, a multinational electronics manufacturing company, was described as being on the cutting edge of its product lines. Datel had sales of $60 million in the 12 months ending in March and Roberts said he expected that figure to be surpassed. Analysts had described Datel as a `` well managed'' company with very little fat to trim. Roberts said Datel has good penetration in Japan where it has to sales offices and in China where it has another sales office. In addition, Datel has a successful selling operation in Europe, he said. Datel has also had success meeting the requirement of the military, which is another plus, Roberts said. Roberts declined to comment on specifics of how the operations of the two companies would dovetail other than to say the top management would remain with Datel except that the most senior manager, who had become an absentee owner in recent months, would be leaving. Datel has nearly 400 employees, most of whom are in Mansfield. C&D's president described the proposed acquisition of Datel as one involving a willing seller and willing buyer with the objective of expanding C&D's power electrical business. He said Datel's major customers are different from C&D's and there are `` expectations of cross-selling of products'' to existing customers of each company because C&D with the acquisition `` would have broader product lines.'' Founded in 1970, Datel's local facility sits on more than four acres under one roof. As a result of recent large investments in capital equipment, Datel possesses one of the most modern, fully automated, pick and place surface mount technology assembly operations in the industry, the company's Web site states. The company also has multiple manufacturing and assembly technologies including thick and thin-film hybrid surface mount technology on ceramic, printed circuit board and traditional through-hole printed circuit board. As part of Datel's quality control system, the company has been registered for ISO-9001, a quality improvement program that is recognized throughout the world. In another recent purchase, C&D closed the acquisition of Celab Limited, with headquarters in Hampshire, England, on May 27 in another all-cash transaction for about $12 million. Celab had about $10 million in annual sales. Its products also have military applications and for cable television. C&D, based in Pennsylvania, was founded in 1906 by two high school boys named Frank Carlile and Leon Doughty who started working after school converting private homes from gas lighting to a then-new concept of electric lighting. Today, C&D Technologies Inc. is a technology company that produces and markets systems for the power conversion and storage of electrical power, including industrial batteries and electronics. A public company, C&D Technologies is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CHP. For more information about the two companies, check their Web sites at www.datel.com and cdtechno.com.