Schneider Electric Delays Sale of Sensor Business

Schneider Electric SA has delayed the auction of its sensors business due to the uncertainty in financial markets. The French engineering company has decided to wait for markets to stabilize before putting its sensor business unit which is valued  at $1.4 billion on the auction block.

The engineering firm had hired JPMorgan Chase to sell its Custom Sensors & Technologies subsidiary. The auction was initially scheduled to kick off in late August after US Labor Day. However the company has postponed the auction due to the turbulence in the financial markets.

Many private equity buyers have found it difficult to complete deals due to the volatile financing markets. The sensors business has more than 4,300 employees worldwide and posted 2010 sales of $571 million. There has been considerable early interest in the sensor unit of Schneider and they have decided to wait for a more opportune market state before proceeding with the sale.

An economic analyst said that given the state of the financing markets, Schneider is not going to rush to the market with that asset. It's pretty big, and I don't think now is the right time to launch a 1 billion euro process he added.