The story
Invensys was formed through the merger of BTR plc and Siebe plc in 1999. Between 1999 and 2004, it underwent a major restructuring programme involving thousands of redundancies to cut its costs amid falling sales and a sizeable debt burden that allegedly posed the possibility of the company going bankrupt. A major disposal programme combined with a £2.7bn debt restructuring during 2004 saved Invensys from collapse. It was under this strategy that The Baan Corporation, which it purchased in 2000 amid the dotcom bubble for €762 million, was sold three years later for only US$135 million. Several other elements, such as Fasco motors and Eurotherm Drives, were also divested to refinance the company.
During May 2005, following the completion of the refinancing effort, Rick Haythornthwaite resigned his position as Invensys' chief executive, his position was filled by Ulf Henriksson. In May 2006, the French multinational Schneider Electric announced that it would acquire Invensys Building Systems (IBS) operations in both North America and Asia in exchange for $296 million. During December 2007, Invensys arranged to sell its Firex Safety Division to United Technologies. That year, the company opted to expand its presence in Indonesia.
In late 2009, as part of an effort to align its various brands and names in the railway sector together, Westinghouse Rail Systems was renamed Invensys Rail. At the time, Invensys Rail was one of a handful of companies that produced equipment compatible with the new European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). During 2011 alone, deals cumulatively valued at £700 million were secured by Invensys Rail from numerous organisations such as Network Rail and Obrascón Huarte Lain for its signalling products.
In March 2011, Wayne Edmunds, who had been Invensys' chief financial officer since 2009, was appointed Chief Executive, replacing Ulf Henriksson. According to The Financial Times, Henriksson, who had been Invensys's Chief Executive since 2005, had had differences with chairman Nigel Rudd over the company's management, in spite of the return to financial health under Henriksson.
During the late 2000s and early 2010s, Invensys became increasingly involved in the Chinese market across various sectors, including the rail and power generation sectors. Between 2011 and early 2012, the company's share price dropped by almost 50%, the devaluation being largely attributed to a £40 million expense associated with delays in the production of control and safety systems for eight Chinese nuclear reactors. On 2 May 2013, Invensys sold off its Wiltshire-based rail division to the German engineering conglomerate Siemens in exchange for £1.7 billion, the majority of which being used to address a deficit in its company pension scheme.
In 2012, Invensys held discussions with the American industrial automation company Emerson Electric on a prospective takeover, although Emerson never issued any firm approach. That same year, the company's management team was compelled to issue a denial of a comment made by Henriksson that he expected China Southern Rail to make a substantial offer to obtain a stake in Invensys. The two companies had previously signed licensing agreements that led to Invensys Rail Group's signalling products being locally produced in China as well as to jointly sell those products to China's expansive mass transit market.
During July 2013, it was announced that Invensys was set to be taken over by Schneider Electric, one of the firm's long term competitors, for a total consideration of £3.4 billion. The deal was noted to likely involve job losses as Schneider revealed plans to make cost savings of around €140m (£122m) per year. Reports claimed that the American engineering conglomerate General Electric was planning to issue its own £3.5 billion ($5.3 billion) counterbid for control of Invensys. The takeover was completed on 17 January 2014 and Invensys was declared to have been fully integrated by Schneider seven months later.
From Wikipedia’s article on Invensys, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5