Honeywell Boosts Voice, RFID Offerings With $600 Million Intermec Deal

Boosting its offerings in voice, RFID and receipt printing, Honeywell will acquire rugged device manufacturer Intermec for $600 million. Intermec's strengths lie in mobile computing, radio frequency identification solutions and bar code, label and receipt printers for use in warehousing, supply chain, field service and manufacturing environments. The news comes as Honeywell closes out a year of strong financial performance and looks ahead to continued growth in 2013.

"We've done a lot over the past decade to transform Honeywell and today we're achieving top-tier performance with a differentiated and balanced mix of long- and short-cycle businesses, a successful pipeline of new products, geographic expansion, and continued focus on our key initiatives," said Honeywell Chairman and CEO Dave Cote.

"The addition of Intermec is a natural extension to our Scanning & Mobility business, which was established through the successful acquisitions of Hand Held Products, Metrologic and EMS," said Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions president and CEO Roger Fradin.

"While Intermec strengthens our core scanning and mobile computing business, it opens up entirely new opportunities in RFID, voice solutions and barcode and receipt printing segments that we currently don't serve," he added.

"The addition of Intermec nearly doubles the size of our scanning and mobility business to 1.6 billion in annualized sales," said Dave Anderson, senior vice president and chief financial officer, in a call with investors. "It really enables Honeywell to be a leader of rugged mobile computers and scanners in the AIDC space. And just as a reminder, the AIDC industry is approximately $4.5 billion in size."

The deal also enhances Honeywell's reach and distribution, expands its product  offerings, and strenthgens its intellectual property portfolio, positioning the firm to become a technology leader in this space, Anderson added.

Pending shareholder approval and regulatory reviews, the Intermec acquisition is expected to close by the end of the Q2 2013.