FTC Approves ABB's Acquisition of Elsag Bailey

Three months after ABB Group announced their intention to acquire Elsag Bailey Process Automation N.V. (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), approval was received from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to complete the deal.

ABB said this was the final regulatory approval required to complete the transaction, a strategic acquisition aimed at making ABB a world leader in this technology-intensive growth market.

ABB has offered to buy all of Elsag Bailey's outstanding common and preferred securities in a deal valued at about US$ 2.1 billion. As a condition of the FTC approval, ABB has agreed to divest Elsag Bailey's gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer business. It is the same divestiture required by the European Commission when it approved the acquisition in mid-December.

The ABB Group serves customers worldwide in power generation, transmission, and distribution; automation; oil, gas, and petrochemicals; industrial products and contracting; financial services; and rail transportation.

Elsag Bailey Process Automation provides automation systems, instrumentation, analytical products, and professional services to the process industries worldwide and has operating units and affiliates in more than 30 countries.