November 6, 2026
Acquisition: Intermatic Broadens Its Footprint in Outdoor Controls
Deal adds photocontrols, wireless systems and streetlight power connectivity products
Intermatic has spent generations telling lights when to turn on and off. On November 5, the Libertyville, Illinois manufacturer announced a deal for a company that does much the same thing from the top of a streetlight pole.
The target is Sunrise Technologies, known as Sun-Tech, a Raynham, Massachusetts maker of outdoor photocontrols, lighting contactors, and power taps. Terms were not disclosed. Sun-Tech sells under three brands (Sun-Tech, FP Outdoor Lighting Controls, and Ripley) and lists more than 1,000 SKUs for utility, municipal, commercial and industrial, and OEM customers.
When MPE Partners bought Intermatic from family ownership in April 2025, the private equity firm said it was actively seeking add-on acquisitions. Sun-Tech fits that description without much stretching. Both companies make controls that switch outdoor lighting at dusk and dawn, and both have been at it long enough to outlast more than one generation of streetlight.
There is some overlap. Intermatic already sells fixed-mount and locking-type photocontrols, plus its ARISTA lighting control system, so it brings more than time switches to the table. Sun-Tech’s strength sits higher on the pole: twistlock streetlight controls, contactors for parking lots and intersections, the Dimulator (a dimming photocontrol that runs preset schedules without a wireless network), and power taps that draw current from a streetlight receptacle to feed cameras, radios, and cell modems.
Different Buyers, Similar Hardware
The more meaningful difference is who signs the purchase orders. Intermatic’s business has long run through electrical distribution and contractors. Sun-Tech’s customer base leans toward utilities and municipalities, buyers whose procurement processes vary but often look little like a contractor picking up stock at the distributor counter.
Chris Kelley, Intermatic’s vice president of sales, said the combination gives the company a broader product roadmap for utilities and municipalities and a more complete outdoor lighting offering for its contractor and distribution partners. Constantine Elefter, Intermatic’s executive chairman and a partner at MPE, pointed to new customers, channels, and applications.
Intermatic, which has facilities in El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico, says it serves more than 2,000 customers. Sun-Tech says its photocontrols are built in the United States. How those two manufacturing footprints fit together is one of the details the announcement leaves for later.
Business As Usual, For Now
In the near term, little changes. According to the companies, Sun-Tech and its brands will continue to operate independently, including ordering, warranty support, and customer service. Any future changes to operations or product lines, the release said, will be communicated if they arise. That is standard language. Reps and distributors carrying both lines will want to watch whether that independence holds once the two photocontrol catalogs share a product roadmap.
The word that keeps surfacing in the announcement is infrastructure. A streetlight fitted with a power tap and a cell modem becomes a small piece of municipal real estate, and Sun-Tech has spent years selling the hardware that sits on top of it. For lighting people tracking Intermatic under MPE, the more interesting question is how far up the pole a timer company intends to climb.
