Leviton bought Home Automation Inc., HAI president Jay McLellan...

Leviton bought Home Automation Inc., HAI president Jay McLellan confirmed to us Thursday after announcement of the deal was leaked by Worthington Distribution in a blog post on its website. Terms of the stock deal were not disclosed. “It’s true and it leaked out not according to plan, which is what happens when you notify too many dealers,” McLellan told Consumer Electronics Daily. HAI will operate as the fifth business unit of Leviton and the deal is the evolution of a “synergistic” relationship between the companies that goes back two decades, he said. McLellan, HAI’s CEO and one of three HAI founders in 1985, cited current “tough” market conditions for a company that has gotten along by its “bootstraps” amid a competitive environment that includes higher end companies, low-end rivals and others funded by venture capital. HAI was initially financed by “friends and family,” and the company has grown without any additional capital since 1995, he said. HAI has the technology, the “smarts” and the track record in the industry, he said, and now it’s time for the company to have the resources of a larger organization like Leviton, he said. Calling it a “perfect fit,” McLellan said HAI systems have been going into Leviton structured wiring enclosures and controlling Leviton lighting control devices “since we started the business,” he said. Leviton has moved into advanced meters, car chargers, solar power and small commercial business and has an international division “that’s unbelievable,” McClellan said. Initial efforts out of the acquisition will focus on building HAI’s global business and the small commercial market, McLellan said. Leviton’s 13 international offices provide a “springboard” for HAI to sell products like its recently launched Omnibus international lighting control system, he said. Small commercial opportunities have reached a “tipping point” in the home automation industry, McLellan said. Traditionally landlords didn’t want to put in control systems because the tenant pays the electric bill, and tenants didn’t want to invest because “it’s not his property,” but with energy prices continuing to rise, control has become a selling point for a landlord, he said. Initially HAI products will be branded HAI by Leviton to maintain brand familiarity, before eventually becoming Leviton Automation “or something like that” over a multi-year process, he said. McLellan said that after bottoming out, the residential market is growing again along with international business and the smart grid category that “comes in spurts.” HAI’s 47 employees in New Orleans and its field sales team will remain in place, he said, while McClellan’s title will change to president of Home Automation, Inc., a business unit of Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.