Electro-Sensors, Inc. (ELSE)

Electro-Sensors, Inc. was a Minnesota company based in Minnetonka that designed and manufactured industrial production monitoring and process control products. It was established in 1968 and its common stock traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol ELSE. The company was small, with a modest workforce and revenues in the single-digit millions of dollars.

Its product lines included speed monitoring systems that measure production counts or rates, together with alarm systems, tachometers and digital displays. It also made temperature sensors for bearings, gearboxes and motors, and devices for production monitoring such as belt alignment and slide gate position monitors, vibration sensors and tilt switches. Its hazard monitoring systems, including the Electro-Sentry and HazardPRO lines, combined sensors with programmable logic and wireless capability.

Customers were found in industries such as grain, feed and milling, bulk material handling, manufacturing, food processing, ethanol production and power generation. The company sold through an internal sales team, manufacturer representatives and a network of distributors. It exported to dozens of countries, including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Australia and China.

The firm historically held a portion of its assets as investments in addition to its operating business, and it operated as an independent public company for decades. Its small size meant that the costs of being public were significant relative to its earnings.

On April 20, 2026, Electro-Sensors entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with steute Industrial Controls, Inc., a Connecticut corporation, and its subsidiary steute Burwell, Inc. Under the agreement, each share of Electro-Sensors common stock would be converted into the right to receive $7.75 in cash, without interest. Outstanding stock options and restricted stock units vested and were cashed out at the merger price, less exercise prices for options.

The merger became effective on July 30, 2026, when steute Burwell merged into Electro-Sensors, which survived as a wholly owned subsidiary of steute Industrial Controls. The company asked Nasdaq to suspend trading and remove its common stock from listing, effective that day, and a Form 25 was to be filed. Directors David Klenk, Joseph Marino, Scott Gabbard and Jeffrey Peterson left the board at the effective time.

After the Form 25, the company intended to file a Form 15 no sooner than ten days later to deregister its common stock and suspend its reporting obligations. Electro-Sensors continues its operations as a subsidiary of steute Industrial Controls and no longer reports as a public company.