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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 |
I really like Kevin Kelley's writing. His book, "Out of Control," should be required geek reading. His latest blog post, "Inevitable Minds," is deep enough to read a couple of times and take time to digest. He is a leader in changing the model paradigm from physics (which I always loved) to biology (which I hated in school, but now wished I knew more).
9:37:47 PM 
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So, Rockwell Automation is back in the takeover rumor mania, so reports Bloomberg. Rumors point to Emerson Electric Co., not the widely supposed ABB. Rockwell's shares are up, Emerson's down in late afternoon trading. Not surprising since the rumored price is $35 and even up ROK is $26. Acquiring companies often lose some ground at first. Rockwell's response is that shareholder value will be maximized by its remaining independent. Emerson declines comment other than its stated $1 billion in acquisitions targeted this year is almost accomplished--standing at some $900 million.
I personally never thought much of an ABB / Rockwell match. Automation insiders think ABB needs discrete control. It already has some, but with the automotive market in a shambles, why would anyone make a big investment in discrete? Similarly, I don't see lots of "synergy" between Emerson Process Management and Rockwell, but if the rumor is true, perhaps it's not so much process management as much as Emerson corporate management thinking it could run it better and wring out value.
But my real feeling--don't think it'll happen. But if I knew what was going to happen, I'd have cashed in my winnings and would be writing philosophical poetry from some tropical paradise ;-)
4:58:53 PM
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Emerson Process Management leaders told me during last September's Exchange that they would continue to look for strategic acquisitions to strengthen the company's reach and expertise, and they have followed up on that. Though no terms were announced, as usual in these things, they did expect this to be a good time for companies with money to acquire companies.
Emerson has acquired epro GmbH of Gronau, Germany to enhance the expertise and resources of Emerson Process Management, a global automation and asset management leader. The deal expands Emersonâo[dot accent]s online machinery monitoring capability with a full API 670-compliant protection offering. It is also expected to speed availability of next generation solutions. Terms of the deal were not announced.
Emerson engineers, manufactures, and delivers machinery monitoring solutions for critical machinery such as turbines and compressors. Their offerings include services for project management, systems engineering, startup and commissioning, training, and ongoing support.
"This acquisition extends Emersonâo[dot accent]s leadership in machinery monitoring and expands our Smart Machinery Health Management offerings. All of this is tightly integrated in the PlantWeb digital plant architecture,âo[caron] said Craig Llewellyn, president Asset Optimization division of Emerson Process Management. âo[ogonek]It combines world-class API-compliant machinery protection solutions with Emersonâo[dot accent]s considerable expertise in predictive diagnostics."
12:36:28 PM
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© Copyright 2009 Gary Mintchell.
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