Melcor, one of the best known thermoelectric module manufacturers, was bought by Laird Group PLC for about US$20M, according to a joint announcement dated October 26, 2005. The Laird Group website indicates they are headquartered in the UK with about 8000 employees worldwide servicing electronics, telecommunications and information industries among others. Included in the purchase was Melcor's Chinese joint venture in Quanzhou, China.

See http://www.melcor.com/nr1.html for the joint news release.

The Melcor purchase by Laird follows the recent purchase of Marlow Industries (2004) by IIVI Inc and the recent startup ventures Nextreme (2005) and Nanocoolers (2002).