Arrow buys Illinois wireless company

Melville-based Arrow Electronics Inc. says it will buy an Illinois wireless and radio-frequency communications company.

Arrow did not say how much it plans to pay for the RF Wireless and Power Division of Richardson Electronics Ltd., known as Richardson RFPD.

Richardson RFPD has a strong sales operation in the Asia-Pacific region, Arrow said in a news release. It sells equipment for infrastructure and wireless networks, power management and alternative energy markets.

Its customers are in the wireless, digital broadcast, military, aerospace and satellite communications industries.

Arrow chief executive Michael J. Long said, "Richardson RFPD is one of the few companies in the industry with the ability to design, assemble, manufacture and test an entire system."

Richardson RFPD will become a separate operating unit of Arrow Electronics, and its headquarters will remain in LaFox, Ill. It has about 400 employees. Total sales were more than $350 million for the most recent full fiscal year, ended May 29.