Invensys

Invensys Limited
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryIndustrial Automation, Transportation, Controls
Founded1999; 25 years ago (1999)
Defunct2014 (2014)
FateMerged to Schneider Electric
HeadquartersLondon, England
Key people
Jean-Pascal Tricoire (chairman and CEO)
ProductsAutomation software
computer-based automation hardware systems
temperature controllers
control systems
Revenue£1,792 million (2013)[1]
£43 million (2013)[1]
£128 million (2013)[1]
Number of employees
16,500 (2011)[2]
ParentSchneider Electric

Invensys Limited was a multinational engineering and information technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. At its height, the company had offices in more than 50 countries and its products were sold in around 180 countries.[3]

Invensys was formed in 1999 through the merger of BTR plc and Siebe plc.[4] It was originally founded on 1 April 1920 as Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd and continued through various name changes registered at Companies House from that date. Invensys lines of business were grouped into four segments: Software, Industrial Automation, Energy Controls and Appliance. Its brands included Avantis, Eurotherm, Foxboro, IMServ, InFusion, Triconex, SimSci, Skelta, Wonderware, Drayton, Eberle, Eliwell.

Less than three years after its establishment, Invensys was in financial hardship, in part due to having overpaid for acquisitions such as the Baan Corporation at the height of the dotcom bubble and having accumulated a heavy debt burden. Through several divestments and a major restructuring, the company's fiscal situation had improved by 2005, allowing the pace of acquisitions to pick up. Considerable business was being obtained by its various products in the railway sector, which it opted to align under the Invensys Rail brand. Invensys Rail was ultimately sold to the German engineering conglomerate Siemens in exchange for £1.7 billion in May 2013.

Between 2011 and early 2012, the company's share price fell by nearly 50%, which was attributed to a £40 million expense from the delayed production of control and safety systems for eight Chinese nuclear reactors. In response, Invensys began openingly seeking to be acquired by a larger company, approaching the American industrial automation company Emerson Electric without any bid being made. During January 2014, Invensys was taken over by the French multinational Schneider Electric for a total consideration of $5.5 billion. Schneider opted to fully integrate the company and phased out the "Invensys" brand in favour of its own.

  1. ^ a b c "Preliminary Results 2013" (PDF). Invensys plc. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  2. ^ "About us". Invensys. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  3. ^ "Annual Report and Accounts 2010" (PDF). Invensys plc. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
  4. ^ Harrison, Michael (24 November 1998). "Siebe and BTR unveil plans for pounds 9.4bn merger". The Independent. London.