49% of Waugh Controls Purchased

A West German manufacturer has purchased a 49% stake in Chatsworth-based Waugh Controls Corp. Both companies make flow-metering equipment and flow-control devices. Waugh Controls officials said the company, Bopp and Reuther GmbH of Mannheim, intends to buy out their firm by 1990.

The price was not disclosed by the companies, which are both privately held.

Both organizations aim to enter new markets. Waugh Controls, which had sales of $60 million in 1984 and employs 60 people in Chatsworth, hopes to penetrate European markets with the partial merger. Bopp and Reuther, an industry leader abroad, looks to strengthen its role in North America. The devices that both companies make include ones that monitor and control oil in refineries and water in private homes.

Waugh Controls is recovering from 1983 losses that company officials said were caused by the slump in the oil industry. But Jim Moore, a Waugh Controls vice president, said the company expects sales to increase within five years to $20 million and that its payroll will double to about 120 workers with the eventual merger.