Schneider to buy L&T's electrical, automation business for Rs 14,000 cr in all-cash deal

Mumbai: Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Tuesday sold its electrical and automation (E&A) business to French giant Schneider Electric for Rs 14,000 crore in an all-cash deal. The E&A business had a net revenue of Rs 5,038 crore in the financial year ended 31 March, 2017. Rueil-Malmaison, France-headquartered Schneider Electric SE is a 180-year-old multinational corporation that specialises in energy management, automation solutions, spanning hardware, software, and services. “The divestment of E&A business is in line with our stated intent of unlocking value within the existing business portfolio to streamline and allocate capital and the management focus for creating long-term value for the stakeholders,” chief executive and managing director SN Subrahmanyan said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_4229411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The partnership with Schneider is a win-win for the employees, business partners, and the shareholders, he added. The transaction, subject to regulatory approvals, covers all segments of the E&A business except marine switchgear and servowatch systems, Subrahmanyan said. The E&A business offers a wide range of low and medium voltage switchgear, electrical systems, marine switchgear, industrial and building automation solutions, energy management systems and metering solutions. The E&A business has manufacturing facilities that are located at Navi Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Vadodara, Coimbatore and Mysore, as well as in Saudi Arabia, UAE (Jebel Ali, Dubai), Kuwait, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Britain. “The E&A business has had a strong presence for decades and is well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory with outstanding technologies, brands, people and global presence. We believe the partnership with Schneider Electric, which has a strong product and geographic presence, would further enhance the business prospects for E&A business and its employees,” said L&T group chairman AM Naik.