Thales Reportedly Poised to Sell Signaling Unit to Hitachi for About $2 Billion
August 03, 2021 at 02:10 pm EDT
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Thales S.A. (ENXTPA:HO) is in advanced negotiations to sell its railway signaling business to Japan's Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501) for nearly €1.7 billion ($2 billion), a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters. A spokesman for Thales, contacted by Reuters, declined to comment. A representative of Hitachi's European operations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deal was scheduled to be announced within the next few days. Thales put its signaling business up for sale earlier this year.
Hitachi specializes in manufacturing and marketing of electronic and industrial equipments. Net sales (including intragroup) break down by family of products and services as follows:
- social infrastructure and industrial systems (24.7%): elevators, escalators, industrial facilities, railway systems, power generation units, etc. The group also provides engineering and construction of nuclear, hydroelectric, and thermal power plants services;
- information and telecommunications products and services (20.1%): systems integration, cloud computing, software, servers, hard disks, PCs, ATMs, data communication base stations, payment terminals, etc.;
- materials and components (16.6%): semi-conductor materials, printed circuit cards, cables, copper and forged steel products, magnetic materials, organic and inorganic chemical products, etc.;
- construction equipment (10%) : hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, mining equipment, etc.;
- automotive systems (9.4%): powertrain systems, control systems, etc.;
- electronic products (9.2%): fiber-optic components, screen tubes, testing and measurement equipment, medical equipment, equipment for manufacturing semiconductors, etc.;
- household appliances (4.7%): heating and air conditioning equipments, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.;
- other (5.3%): mainly transport, financial and logistical services.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Japan (49.2%), Asia (21.3%), North America (12.7%), Europe (10.8%) and other (6%).
HITACHI, LTD. 
