Wonderware backed in merger clash

Schneider’s £3.4 billion takeover was accepted by Invensys’ shareholders in July, and Invensys Industrial Automation president and CEO Mike Caliel said the deal was on schedule to be approved by shareholders in October.

While both Caliel and Schneider chief executive Jean-Pascal Tricoire have described the merger as a “growth deal” thanks to very little crossover between the companies, analysts have warned that there are some clashes caused by rival products owned by the firms.

In particular Invensys’ Wonderware and Schneider’s Citect are both leading brands of Human Machine Interface (HMI) software. This clash of products will need to be managed through the merging of the brands or the sale or discontinuation of one of the products.

The Wonderware brand is world class, so we feel good about the future of our software business

Invensys Industrial Automation CEO Mike Caliel

Caliel told Process Engineering that he felt this clash would be dealt with “rationally and transparently”.

“Frankly, as you look at the respective portfolios there is very little crossover and Schneider look at this as a growth deal,” said Caliel.

“However, yes, Wonderware and Citect is one area where there is a clash. All I can say is that we are quite proud of the direction that Wonderware has taken: last count it had sold three quarter of a million industrial software licenses. That’s a formidable market penetration. The brand is world class, so we feel good about the future of our software business.”

Calliel was speaking to Process Engineering at Invensys’ Foxboro and Triconex users’ conference in San Antonio, Texas, which opened on Wednesday with a video message from Tricoire telling delegates about his excitement over the Foxboro Evo distributed control system (DCS), launched at the event this week.

With Foxboro’s latest offering gaining the support of its potential new owner, both Caliel and Invensys systems business president Gary Freburger were bullish about the opportunities the merger would offer Invensys.

Freburger identified two sectors in particular into which Schneider’s acquisition would help Invensys’ systems business grow.

“When you look at Schneider and what industries they are in, and whether they could be complimentary, there are two that really jump out,” said Freburger.

“One is upstream oil and gas, particularly pipeline management. The other is power generation. There’s a good opportunity [through this merger] to become a major provider in the power industry across the whole breadth.”