Wahlco Acquires Connecticut Firm

IRVINE — Wahlco Environmental Systems Inc. said Tuesday that it had bought the technologies and assets of a Connecticut pollution-control company for an undisclosed sum.

Wahlco makes equipment that removes air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide from power-plant emissions.

The new acquisition, Field Services Associates Inc. of Shelton, Conn., recently patented similar equipment that costs less than Wahlco’s.

By purchasing Field, Wahlco extends its reach to the lower end of this market, called “flue-gas conditioning,” or FGC, equipment. The deal “complements Wahlco’s product line,” said Vincent F. Middleton, president of subsidiary Wahlco Inc.

Field had sales of as much as $7 million. Wahlco also assumed all of Field’s debts, an amount that also was not disclosed.

Wahlco has expanded its product line recently by purchasing businesses in the United States and abroad.

The air-pollution-control business perked up after Congress passed tough new amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990.

But the amendments also brought a lot of new competition for Wahlco, which says it is the leading international vendor of FGC equipment.

The company, based in Irvine, reported profits of $11.6 million on sales of $88.8 million last year, boosted by the addition of new companies from 1989’s $9 million in profits on $57.7 million in sales.

But the company recently said it would report a loss for the first quarter of this year because orders for its equipment have slowed. Its stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, has also taken a beating, falling from a high of near $15 to languish around $7.

The stock closed Tuesday at $7.25, down 12.5 cents.