Schneider Electric offers $5bn for UK firm
London, July 13, 2013
The prospect of a bid battle powered Invensys shares to a 10-year high yesterday, after the British engineer said it had received a £3.3 billion ($5 billion) takeover proposal from France's Schneider Electric.
Invensys said Schneider, which confirmed only that it had made a proposal, was considering an offer of 505 pence a share in cash and stock, 15pc above Invensys' closing price on Thursday.
A deal would allow Schneider to tap the British firm's strength in industrial automation, which is enjoying rapid growth.
However, Invensys shares jumped as high as 513.5 pence on speculation the proposal could flush out other bidders.-Reuters