Stratham-based Vitronics up for sale

Vitronics Soltec, a Stratham-based subsidiary of Dover Corporation, is on the block, the parent company announced Wednesday.

According to a letter signed by Vitronics Soltec’s president, Erik Tobiason, the maker of soldering systems and technology has been put for sale by the Rhode Island-based Dover because of a change in marketing strategy at the parent company.

Vitronics is currently experiencing high sales volumes, in part due to lead-free equipment replacement cycles, Tobiason said in the letter, which was sent to customers. It is not being sold for financial performance reasons, he said.

The letter also was signed by four divisional vice presidents of the firm as well as Richard Lim, general manager of the Vitronics plant in Suzhou, China.

In it, they wrote: “We the management team of Vitronics Soltec together with Dover would like to stress the point that the motivation for selling Vitronics is not at all related to our financial performance and is instead purely a decision made by Dover on fit with their future market segment focus. Vitronics Soltec will advise you of the completed sale as the earliest possible date.”

The letter, intended to quell concerns among Vitronics Soltec’s customer base, goes on to say that “after a long evaluation process and as part of a wider restructuring plan, Dover Corporation has made a strategic decision to focus on other segments in their markets. … While our company has achieved strong success over many years, Dover is rebalancing its portfolio to be less focused on capital equipment. Both Dover and Vitronics Soltec see this as an opportunity to align our strong company with an investor more focused in this area.” – JEFF FEINGOLD