Chippenham rail firm is sold to German rival (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)
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Chippenham rail firm is sold to German rival
8:31am Friday 30th November 2012 in Chippenham By Jill Crooks
Langley Park in Chippenham, where Ivensys employs 1,400 people
Technology company Invensys, whose rail arm is based in Chippenham, unveiled a £1.74 billion proposed deal to sell its rail business to German high speed train maker Siemens.
Invensys, which has been at the centre of takeover speculation in recent months, said the sale would provide money to cut its pension deficit and deliver annual cost savings of £25 million.
It employs around 1,400 people at its plant at Langley Park in Chippenham.
Shares in Invensys soared 27 per cent after the potential deal was announced, with the two groups hoping to complete the transaction in the second quarter of 2013.
Invensys, which employs 3,000 people in the UK out of a total workforce of 20,000, develops technologies for a wide range of sectors including mass transit rail networks, oil refineries and air conditioning.
The Chippenham rail arm provides high-tech software-based signalling, communication and control systems to rail networks worldwide.
Invensys rail is working on a number of Network Rail projects, including work on the Thameslink main-line route.
Wayne Edmunds, chief executive of Invensys, said the group decided to sell its rail arm because it had "limited scope" to expand the business.
He added Invensys planned to concentrate on industrial software, systems and control equipment businesses.
Siemens had been mooted as a possible bidder for the entire Invensys business earlier this year.
A spokesman for Siemens said: "Siemens sees rail automation as a highly attractive business to further invest in that offers good growth and resilient profitability.
"Invensys Rail employees and management are an important success factor to the business and we hope Invensys employees will see Siemens as an attractive employer. Our aim is to become the global leader in the rail automation market with members from both Siemens and Invensys forming the new management team.
"Siemens is a well established company in the UK with operations here for 170 years and 13,500 UK employees. We see this acquisition as strengthening our company in the UK as well as globally.
"Siemens recognises that Invensys Rail is well positioned in the UK, Spain, US and Australia where it has a strong presence and holds long-term customer relationships. This maps well on to Siemens strengths in continental Europe, China and India so there is a really good geographical fit without much overlap.
"We now enter a period of consultation with employees and the various anti-trust and pensions bodies and we expect to fully integrate the companies by the end of 2015-2016."
Invensys has suffered on the stock market after warning in January of the impact of a series of project delays, mostly involving eight nuclear reactors in China. But half-year results earlier this month showed improvements as pre-tax profits rose 5.5 per cent to £77 million.
Comments(7)
judgeatnam
says...
8:08pm Fri 30 Nov 12
freddie_W wrote:Why is that then? Because a struggling UK company is taken over by a highly successful German company? UUUmmm?
That will be another 1400 claiming job seekers in Chippenham.
jw9202
says...
8:22pm Fri 30 Nov 12
mobyduck
says...
1:14pm Sat 1 Dec 12
jw9202 wrote:The whole of Langley Park belongs to Ashtenne Industrial Fund, none of it is owned by developers. Ivnesys Rail lease their building from the site owners, they do not own them. The site owners are trying to develop the derelict part of the site and to my knowledge Invensys Rail have not expressed a wish to expand into those areas.
It could well happen as if they wanted to expand they would have the same problems that Invensys had as the surrounding grounds that used to be the Brakes side of the business is owned by the developers who wanted to build an ASDA & house there, that said the developers may approach them to either buy the rest of the site or sell theirs back as they've not been able to do what they want with it & may be costing them in lost profit. Just have to wait & see.
jw9202
says...
1:48pm Sat 1 Dec 12
mobyduck wrote:Ah, you see previous G&H stories regarding the development of an ADSA & houses on the site have call Ashtenne the 'developers' no mention of industrial fund, so highly misleading. Invensys did make rumblings about moving the same as the old Westinghouse Brakes did when looked into expanding but couldn't but this was back around early 2000's. Think G&H reported that as well. What is an industrial fund anyway?
jw9202 wrote:The whole of Langley Park belongs to Ashtenne Industrial Fund, none of it is owned by developers. Ivnesys Rail lease their building from the site owners, they do not own them. The site owners are trying to develop the derelict part of the site and to my knowledge Invensys Rail have not expressed a wish to expand into those areas.
It could well happen as if they wanted to expand they would have the same problems that Invensys had as the surrounding grounds that used to be the Brakes side of the business is owned by the developers who wanted to build an ASDA & house there, that said the developers may approach them to either buy the rest of the site or sell theirs back as they've not been able to do what they want with it & may be costing them in lost profit. Just have to wait & see.
jw9202
says...
1:57pm Sat 1 Dec 12
jw9202 wrote:Fancy name for Landlord basically.
mobyduck wrote:Ah, you see previous G&H stories regarding the development of an ADSA & houses on the site have call Ashtenne the 'developers' no mention of industrial fund, so highly misleading. Invensys did make rumblings about moving the same as the old Westinghouse Brakes did when looked into expanding but couldn't but this was back around early 2000's. Think G&H reported that as well. What is an industrial fund anyway?
jw9202 wrote:The whole of Langley Park belongs to Ashtenne Industrial Fund, none of it is owned by developers. Ivnesys Rail lease their building from the site owners, they do not own them. The site owners are trying to develop the derelict part of the site and to my knowledge Invensys Rail have not expressed a wish to expand into those areas.
It could well happen as if they wanted to expand they would have the same problems that Invensys had as the surrounding grounds that used to be the Brakes side of the business is owned by the developers who wanted to build an ASDA & house there, that said the developers may approach them to either buy the rest of the site or sell theirs back as they've not been able to do what they want with it & may be costing them in lost profit. Just have to wait & see.
mobyduck
says...
4:06pm Sat 1 Dec 12
jw9202 wrote:The landlord is usually known as just plain Ashtenne and I haven't a clue as to what an industrial fund is either. Probably a company who's only aim is to make money.
mobyduck wrote:Ah, you see previous G&H stories regarding the development of an ADSA & houses on the site have call Ashtenne the 'developers' no mention of industrial fund, so highly misleading. Invensys did make rumblings about moving the same as the old Westinghouse Brakes did when looked into expanding but couldn't but this was back around early 2000's. Think G&H reported that as well. What is an industrial fund anyway?
jw9202 wrote:The whole of Langley Park belongs to Ashtenne Industrial Fund, none of it is owned by developers. Ivnesys Rail lease their building from the site owners, they do not own them. The site owners are trying to develop the derelict part of the site and to my knowledge Invensys Rail have not expressed a wish to expand into those areas.
It could well happen as if they wanted to expand they would have the same problems that Invensys had as the surrounding grounds that used to be the Brakes side of the business is owned by the developers who wanted to build an ASDA & house there, that said the developers may approach them to either buy the rest of the site or sell theirs back as they've not been able to do what they want with it & may be costing them in lost profit. Just have to wait & see.
freddie_W says...
2:12pm Fri 30 Nov 12