LEWISTON – A former executive of Philips Elmet has bought the company and pledged to keep its 240 jobs in Maine – and likely expand.

Jack Jensen, who worked there until 1996, teamed up with private investors to buy the company from Philips Electronics North America Corp. He plans to rename it Elmet Technologies Inc.

Jensen said he approached the parent company after observing that part of the 74-year-old plant’s operation was not a core business for it and might be sold and moved out of state. “I asked them if they ever would sell it.”

When they said they would, Jensen attempted to line up investors, but failed.

“I was hitting some roadblocks and was under some time pressure to get this deal done,” he said.

He met with Gov. John Baldacci and Jack Cashman, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development.

They worked with investment bankers to find the money Jensen needed to buy the business. He declined to disclose the sale price, saying only it cost “a lot.” Jensen will be majority owner.

“The governor put me in touch with the right people to make this happen and keep the jobs in Maine,” Jensen said.

The company works with molybdenum and tungsten metals to supply lighting, semiconductor and medical markets for Philips Lighting Co. and will continue to do so, Jensen said. He plans to expand the plant’s line of medical products, he said. Philips bought the local company in 1942.

“We’re certainly going to do our best to grow the business,” he said.

After working for Philips Elmet for 13 years, Jensen moved to New Jersey where he worked in the corporate headquarters of Philips Lighting Co., the parent company of Philips Elmet and the world’s largest lighting company. There, he rose to the position of senior vice president of sales.

He plans to relocate to Maine and likely will settle again in the Portland area where he was born and attended school, he said.

As the number of manufacturing jobs in Maine continues to decline, Jensen said he is optimistic about his new company’s chances for success.

“How do we expect to compete? It’s the talent of our people and the technical capabilities within our plant,” he said, adding its engineers help keep the company competitive.

Workers at the plant are unionized. A labor spokesperson was not available Monday to provide reaction to the purchase.

Cashman said this is not the first time he has helped a Maine company stay put and hopes it won’t be the last.

Earlier this year, he worked with Energy East Corp., parent company of Central Maine Power Co., in an effort to keep roughly 80 accounting jobs from moving to a New York branch of that company’s accounting department.

Instead, Energy East imported 110 New York accounting jobs to the Pineland Center in New Gloucester to join the Maine workers who relocated there.

Another arrangement with the same venture capital group tapped for the Philips deal currently in negotiation stages could keep about 100 Maine jobs from leaving the state, Cashman said.

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