Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) announced in September it was initiating a process to sell its industrial packaging unit, as the conglomerate continues to streamline its diversified business lines.
Illinois Tool Works: Who are these people?
The Glenville, Illinois-based manufacturer was founded in 1912 and employs over 65,000 people across hundreds of business lines in nearly 60 countries. The company has been a Fortune 200 company for decades and has both an impeccable environmental record as well as a reputation for being nothing short of strange to interview with for those seeking employment. Job seekers are generally taken to lunch and given something not dissimilar to a citizenship test with applicants fielding questions like, “How many U.S. Senators are there?”
Quirkiness aside, the company will most likely sell to one of two suitors.The Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG) is the odds on favorite to empty their coffers of $3 billion though another private equity firm, Onex, jumped into the mix late in negotiations. Onex is working with the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board to make it happen.
Carlyle to lose?
The Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG) is no stranger to taking bits from industrial conglomerates. Most recently they paid $4.15 billion for the diagnostics unit of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). In 2012, they paid just shy of $5 billion for E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD)’s performance coatings division.
Shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) were largely unchanged today ahead of the anticipated announcement though were up a touch closing at $78.12, up $0.52.
Based on reporting by Reuters today the deal looks to be nearing completion with an announcement expected within hours.
