Invensys plc has entered into an agreement to sell its APV unit to SPX Corporation for a cash consideration of £250 million ($513 million), subject to customary regulatory approvals. The disposal is being made on a debt-free/cash-free basis and completion is expected to take place by the end of December 2007.
APV is a global supplier of process engineering solutions for the food, beverage, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
"lf Henriksson, chief executive of Invensys plc, said, I am pleased that APV will be owned by SPX Corporation, as it is a good strategic fit with their existing businesses. This is a good deal for both Invensys and SPX, and we wish APV every success in the future. This transaction enables us to focus management attention on our other operations as we seek to become a sustainable, high performance and cohesive company.
In a separate announcement, the company said that Sudipta Bhattacharya would become the new president of the Wonderware business unit of Invensys. He will report directly to Ulf Henriksson. Bhattacharya will replace Mike Bradley, who became president of Wonderware in November, 2002, and was instrumental in driving the HMI and SCADA businesses, and then taking the company deeper into other manufacturing and infrastructure spaces. Under his leadership, Wonderware has consistently achieved over four years of double-digit growth.
No reason was given for Bradleys departure.
Bhattacharya joined Invensys in August 2007 as chief software solutions officer. He came from SAP AG, where he was senior vice president of solutions management for SAPs supply chain, manufacturing and product lifecycle management applications.
