Schneider buys in to solar market

Xantrex, the largest supplier of solar inverters to the North American market is to be sold to Schneider Electric for approximately $500m (£272m) according to recent company reports. This acquisition comes only a year after Schneider Electric purchased American Power Conversion (APC) to form the world's largest supplier of uninterruptible power supplies (under the name APC-MGE). In 2007, IMS Research ranked Vancouver-based Xantrex as one of the top five largest suppliers of solar inverters worldwide and the largest supplier to the Americas market.