Newly-weds sell furniture
15 Jan 2000
Brand new BTR Siebe is reported to be considering the sell off of over £1.5 billion of businesses that were part of BTR prior to the £9.5 billion merger with Siebe.
City analysts speculate that BTR's specialist engineering and automotive divisions, with sales of over £2.2 billion per year, may be sold in an attempt to create a control and automation group capable of competing with the likes of Siemens of Germany, ABB of Switzerland, Emerson Electric of the US and the new Lurgi/GEA creation at Metallgesellschaft (see main story).
With 10 per cent of the £70 billion world process control and automation market, BTR Siebe is arguably the largest player.
Subsidiaries which might go are Metzeler, GenCorp, BTR Auto and Siebe Auto which are the least profitable of the merged group's businesses.
Controls and automation products represent about 75 percent of BTR Siebe's sales against 90 per cent of Siebe's turnover before the merger.
The company is in no hurry, however, and will wait for the right time and price before going to market.
The latest appointment reporting to chief executive Allen Yurko is John Saunders, who is now senior vice president and director for corporate strategy and development.
