Around the Industry

April 22, 2011
Schneider stock slides on rumors of Tyco acquisition There's been plenty of chatter over the past two weeks about Schneider Electric's alleged interest

Schneider stock slides on rumors of Tyco acquisition

There's been plenty of chatter over the past two weeks about Schneider Electric's alleged interest in purchasing Tyco International in a deal that would be in the neighborhood of $30 billion and rank as the largest industrial acquisition ever by a European company. Bloomberg has been the primary source for the rumors, and the market's response hit the value of Schneider shares hard. The Bloomberg report said, “Schneider shareholders lost $1.7 billion on the day the company's preliminary discussions with Tyco became known. The stock continued its descent the following day, until Schneider intervened on April 13 with a statement that the company, based near Paris, is ‘not currently’ in takeover talks with Tyco.” Tyco's largest operation is its ADT security unit. It split off the connector business familiar to the electrical industry (formerly AMP) in a separate company, now called TE Connectivity, in 2007 following an accounting scandal.

Philips rolls out an EISA-compliant incandescent lamp

Philips Lighting, Somerset, N.J., caught the buzz created by Earth Day this year to announce a new range of energy-efficient incandescent lamps under the EcoVantage line offering the same shape, light quality and dimmability as traditional incandescent lamps but with energy savings that meet the requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. Philips pulled off the trick by using halogen technology encased in the familiar Edison globe. The result is an energy savings of at least 28 percent, with a 40W equivalent pulling only 29W, 60W equivalent at 43W and 100W equivalent at 72W. Home Depot scored an exclusive, and will be the only place consumers can buy the EcoVantage bulbs. Philips didn't say how long that exclusive will last.

B.L Robinson to take on Van Meter name at Burlington, Iowa, location

A report from Iowa's Hawk Eye website says B.L. Robinson Electric Supply Co., Burlington, Iowa, has taken on the Van Meter Industrial name, 14 years after the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Van Meter purchased the company. The report said the branch will start carrying Rockwell Automation products, as do Van Meter's other locations, and will stop carrying Square D products as of April 25.