After the accession of former EDS president Paulett Eberhart to the post of president of Invensys Process Systems, it has become clear that Invensys is looking for a way to migrate to a software and services company.
Invensys plc announces that it has entered into an agreement to sell APV to SPX Corporation for a cash consideration of £250 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. During the year ended 31 March 2007, APV produced operating profit before exceptional items of £16 million on revenue of £421 million and at that date had gross assets of £284 million. APV will be treated as a discontinued operation in the second quarter results to 30 September 2007 which are due to be published on 8 November 2007 and its net assets of £78 million will be included in the 30 September 2007 balance sheet as "Assets held for sale".Following discussions with the Trustee of its main UK pension fund, the Invensys Pension Scheme ("the Scheme"), Invensys plc has agreed to contribute £70 million of the proceeds to the Scheme at completion. The effect of this additional payment upon the payment schedule announced last year will be evaluated as part of the actuarial review of the Scheme as at 31 March 2008. The US pension scheme will receive 4% of the proceeds and the balance will be used to pay down corporate debt.
Ulf Henriksson, Chief Executive of Invensys plc, commented:
"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."
