Irvine chipmaker Microsemi Corp. said Thursday it bought La Mirada-based Babcock Inc., a maker of power controllers and sensors for the military, for $20 million in cash.
As part of the deal, Microsemi also got all of the shares of Babcock’s parent, Electro Module Inc., which purchased it in 1977.
Microsemi said the buy is expected to add to earnings starting next year.
In the same announcement, Microsemi reaffirmed its outlook for the September quarter.
The company is looking for profits of $28 million to $29 million on sales of $133 million to $136 million.
Wall Street is expecting Microsemi to see about $29 million on sales of $134 million.
Babcock got its start in 1947. It makes power supplies and power conditioning units for satellites, airplanes and ships used by the military and other aerospace customers.
It has roughly 135,000 square feet of manufacturing space in La Mirada.
Babcock is Microsemi’s second large acquisition this year.
A few months ago it paid paid $25 million to buy its longtime rival Costa Mesa-based Semicoa Semiconductors Inc.
Microsemi and Semicoa make what industry insiders call “high reliability” chips, which go into devices that need to perform under extreme conditions in which failures can be very costly.
Shares of Microsemi closed up 10% on a recent market value of about $1.7 billion.
