ABB To Buy Baldor
On Nov. 29, Baldor Electric’s stock (symbol BEZ) closed at $45.11. The next
day, after ABB said it and Baldor had agreed to a purchase, BEZ stock soared—closing
last week at $63.30, just below the $63.50 price—an all-cash offer—on which
the two companies have agreed.
ABB posted (on Nov. 30) a slide-show (PDF,
downloadable from this page) that included these claims:
- “We are creating a global leader in industrial motion.”
(Later, ABB said industrial motion was “a $35 billion global
market.”) See graphic below.
- “Motor market growing 10% to 15% [annually?], driven by energy-efficiency
regulation.”
- “Significant synergies—over $200 million to EBITDA by 2015.”
[EBITDA = earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortization]
- Facts on Baldor: 7,250 employees (as of 1/10); $1.7 billion in revenue in
2010.
In a vast amount of material posted to the web about this deal, tedmag.com
found the following interesting perspectives:
From
Plant Engineering: The acquisition is “a big bet on energy efficiency.”
From Bloomberg.com:
“We see significant potential for ABB to use Baldor distribution to expand
its drives business in the United States, as well as a more general build-out
of its discrete automation business,” said Goldman Sachs Group analysts, led
by Tim Rothery in a note to clients.
From SeekingAlpha.com:
“We intend to build on Baldor’s excellent North American position to sell
energy-efficient drives, larger motors, and generators. Together, we will accelerate
the expansion of Baldor’s mechanical power transmission product portfolio into
the global process automation market using ABB’s strong channels in this sector,”
said Ulrich Spiesshofer, an executive committee member at ABB's Discrete Automation
and Motion division.
UNRELATED NEWS: In mid-November, ABB said it made “a strategic investment”
in Pentalum Technologies (of Israel), which is “developing advanced wind-sensing
technology for control and optimization of wind turbines and wind farms.”
ManuFacts
AMSC—American Superconductor has selected LS Cable (Korea) and Nexans
(France) as “the superconductor power cable subcontractors” for the Tres Amigas
Superstation (to be built in Clovis, N.M.).
BELDEN—Belden has agreed to acquire GarretCom, which provides “advanced
industrial networking products and smart grid solutions.”
COOPER LIGHTING—the Halo brand was named “brand leader” in Lighting
by Remodeling magazine, “sweeping all four categories,” according to a release.
EATON—a 380,000-square-foot Eaton factory in Lincoln, Ill., was named
winner in the seventh annual Assembly Plant of the Year, sponsored by Assembly
magazine (with the help of Boston Consulting Group). The Lincoln plant, with
436 workers, makes “load centers, metering devices, power outlet panels, AC
disconnects, and generator transfer switches,” according to the
magazine’s article (which printed out at 11 pages).
EMERSON—sales in the three months ending with October in the Industrial
Automation operation were up more than 20% from the same period one year earlier.
FIRE-LITE/HONEYWELL—the company was honored by the NJATC for its support
of training programs. NJATC = National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee
(a NECA-IBEW org).
GALVAN INDUSTRIES—the company’s ninth annual Turkey Promotion (Oct.
1-Dec. 15) sees the company provide one free Butterball turkey to each customer
that orders $2,200 or more of Galvan products.
GENERAL CABLE—Roger Roundhouse, senior vice president of specialty wire
harnesses, sat for an interview with Manufacturing Digital. From the
magazine’s release:
In the article, Roundhouse said General Cable strongly believes
in operator-led process control, in which employees are empowered on the factory
floor, not only to give them a voice, but to streamline processes and eliminate
waste and reduce cycle times. “The shop floor is where you tap into the power
of the organization,” Roundhouse said.
HONEYWELL—the company will integrate technology from EnergyHub, “a leading
home energy solutions provider,” into its energy management product portfolio.
KITCO FIBER OPTICS—named to the “Top 100” list compiled by Military
Training Technology magazine (for the fifth year in a row).
LEVITON—has acquired Integrated Metering Systems, which it called “a
leading manufacturer of revenue-grade submetering solutions.”
Separately, in October Leviton launched The Connected Home
Builder Program (which will assist builders with networking, audio, video, and
telephone systems).
MILBANK—was honored with the “Perfect Engine” site award by TBM Consulting
Group—specifically for “a continuous improvement philosophy and its success
as a ‘lean’ manufacturer.”
STAHLIN—the company claimed that it is the only maker of enclosures
to currently hold the UL 1741 certification (“Distributed Generation Power Systems
Accessory Equipment”).
T&B—in an appearance at a Gabelli investment conference, the company
said it expects 2011 sales growth to be “in the mid- to high single digits”
over 2010.
Financial Updates
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable—revenues rose 28.8% from 2009 in
the year’s first nine months to $325 million.
Communications Systems—Q3 revenues rose 19%, taking nine-month
sales to $33.3 million. That’s up 18.6%.
The Alpine Group—revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30 hit
$86.5 million, up 252%, “largely due to an increase in Exeon’s revenues as a
result of higher copper prices, increased volume in its scrap reclamation business,
and the positive impact of a new toll agreement with a subsidiary of Wolverine
Tube.”
Universal Security Instruments—at the six-month mark of FY11
(ended Sept. 30), sales of $7.4 million were down 46%. What happened? The customer
lost a large national retail customer. What’s happening? “We have experienced
some delays in getting approvals from certain testing agencies for our next-generation
products,” said CEO Harvey Grossblatt.
© 2012 The Electrical Distributor. All rights reserved.