19 February 2002 Invensys, the UK-based diversified industrial computing group, says it will sell the third of its business dealing with industrial components and systems in order to focus on production management software and energy systems.
The £2.3 billion (€3.77 bn) disposal, which involves eight businesses including BAE Automated Systems, Sensor Systems and Rexnord, forms the bedrock of the company’s drive to reduce its debt and return to profitability.
The remaining Invensys operations will be grouped around three divisions – Production Management, Energy Management, and Development – with Production Management forming the focus for Invensys’ manufacturing software interests. These include its enterprise resource planning software unit Baan, the process manufacturing software businesses Foxboro and APV, data warehousing vendor Wonderware, and control software suppliers Triconex and Eurotherm. Together, these businesses have total annual sales of £1.6 billion (€2.62 bn), says Invensys.
This new division, lead by its own chief operating officer, Leo Quinn, will target its software and services at the oil, gas and chemicals, power generation, food, beverage, personal healthcare, and discrete and hybrid manufacturing sectors.
Invensys’s Chief executive, Rick Haythornthwaite, says the company has now “carved out a more compact group capable of both rapid rebound and sustainable long-term growth.” The new structure will take effect from 1 May.
