US: CEO says Honeywell merger ‘Ain’t Going to Happen’

United Technologies Chief Executive Gregory Hayes said there is “no path forward” for a merger proposal from Honeywell International that would combine the two industrial giants and create a dominant maker of aerospace equipment and systems, reports The Wall Street Journal.

“It ain’t going to happen,” Mr. Hayes said in an appearance on CNBC. “There is just no way to get it done.”

Mr. Hayes confirmed Honeywell’s offer last week of $108 a share to combine the two companies, including $42 a share in cash. The discussions began last spring when Mr. Hayes first broached a deal with Honeywell CEO David Cote, he said, but United Technologies later became convinced after consulting with its attorneys that a deal could not survive antitrust scrutiny.

Mr. Hayes said the deal would be opposed by the companies’ most important aerospace customers, Boeing Inc. and Airbus Group SE.

“It would be irresponsible for us to pursue the merger,” he said, adding that it was unlikely to succeed “in this regulatory environment.”

Mr. Hayes raised the specter of a past merger fiasco affecting both companies: the failed effort by United Technologies to acquire Honeywell in 2000. In that deal, General Electric Co. swooped in to beat out United Technologies and strike a deal for Honeywell, only to see the transaction blocked by antitrust regulators in Europe.

“The last thing I want to do is decimate my company the way Honeywell was decimated after the failed merger with GE,” he said.

Full content: The Wall Street Journal

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