Emerson Electric Co. is in advanced talks to acquire National Instruments Corp. after a long pursuit of the maker of measurement systems, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — Emerson Electric Co. is in advanced talks to acquire National Instruments Corp. after a long pursuit of the maker of measurement systems, according to people familiar with the matter.
Emerson is discussing paying around $60 a share, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information wasn’t public.
Emerson beat out smaller rival Fortive Corp. in a competitive process for National Instruments, one of the people added.
An announcement could come as soon as this week, although the companies’ plans could still change, they said.
Representatives for National Instruments and Fortive didn’t respond to requests for comment. A representative for Emerson declined to comment.
At around $60 a share for Austin-based National Instruments, a deal would be the 10th-biggest out of more than 7,400 globally this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
National Instruments rose 0.2% to close at $52.58 in New York trading Tuesday, giving the company a market value of about $6.9 billion. Emerson has a market value of more than $48 billion, while Fortive was valued at about $23 billion.
The back-and-forth over National Instruments, which provides hardware and software for engineers and scientists, has gone on for almost a year. Emerson said in January that it had made more than one offer to buy the company since May 2022. National Instruments had said in a separate statement that it wanted to talk to other potential buyers before making a decision.
Emerson’s Chief Executive Officer Lal Karsanbhai, said earlier this year in one of its public letters as part of its pursuit of the company that “acquiring National Instruments is another step forward in Emerson’s journey to develop a cohesive, higher growth and higher margin portfolio and build on its global automation focus.”
St. Louis-based Emerson has been transforming its portfolio to focus on higher-growth automation to boost its profitability.
An earlier version of Emerson’s offer valued National Instruments at $7.6 billion, including debt, representing a 32% premium to the share price the day before the company announced a strategic review on Jan. 13.
That proposal had won support in January from James Truchard, who started National Instruments in his garage in 1976. Truchard, who retains a significant undisclosed holding in the company, said Emerson looked like a good fit and that other prospective buyers might face antitrust issues.
Read More: National Instruments Co-Founder Backs $7 Billion Emerson Offer
(Updates with transaction totals in sixth paragraph.)
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