Hubbell Closes Burndy Acquisition

Hubbell  Inc.(HUB) announced the closure of the FCI Americas (Burndy business) acquisition yesterday. The company  purchased Burndy for $360 million, funded through a combination of the cash on its balance sheet and the liquidation of some of its investments. 

Burndy is a manufacturer of connectors, cable accessories and tooling for electrical products. The business currently serves commercial, industrial and utility customers located primarily in the U.S. It generates roughly 25% of sales from Canada , Mexico and Brazil . 

The company will continue to operate as a separate unit under Hubbell’s Electrical Products segment. With $225 million in 2008 sales and operating margins in the high teens, the business will be a boon for the company. Management currently expects the business to be acrretive to 2010 results. 

In the last quarter, the Electrical segment revenue was down 1.4% sequentially and 21.7% year over year, mainly due to recession-driven weakness across all segments. 

The segment generated an operating margin of 7.9%, which was up 98 bps sequentially and down 475 bps year over year. The sequential improvement was due to inventory and workforce reductions implemented in the preceding quarters. The year-over-year decline was related to lower volumes, which also impacted sequential comparisons. Therefore, Burndy’s higher-margin business profile is also a positive. 

The Electrical segment serves the non-residential, residential, industrial, utility and other markets. These markets generated 52%, 12%, 28%, 3% and 5%, respectively, of segmental revenue in 2008. The unit has several thousand products for both indoor and outdoor use. The company categorizes these products into wiring, electrical, commercial, industrial, harsh and hazardous-location, high-voltage test and measurement, and lighting products.

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