Last year, Honeywell International, parent company of Honeywell Process Solutions, announced that it was planning to spend up to $10 billion on mergers and acquisitions through 2018, but not much happened in the buy-up department after the announcement. Now, according to a story from Bidness Etc. making the rounds, the company is gearing up to let go some cash to meet that goal.
Some candidates rumored to be in Honeywell’s sites are airplane parts manufacturer Woodward, Inc., safety products supplier Brady and Motorola Solutions. Of special interest to those of us in the process automation space is the other name on the list—Yokogawa Electric Co.
Here’s the money quote from the Bidness Etc. article: “The other possible M&A target for Honeywell could come from the Japanese company Yokogawa Electric Co (OTCMKTS:YOKEF), which produces process-automation equipment and company’s worth is $2.8 billion. Honeywell can buy Yokogawa just for its field-instrumental operations and can later on shut down its control-system business, as Honeywell already has one. The takeover will be a great fit and will create the potential for synergies, according to Walt Boyes, a principal at Spitzer and Boyes LLC.”
I wouldn’t bet the rent on any of these particular acquisitions coming about, but with its stated goal of spending up to $10 billion by 2018 getting closer, it might be worthwhile to keep an eye on Honeywell over the next few months.
