Invensys Peers on Watch as Takeover Chatter Heats Up (SI) (EMR) (ABB)

Competitors of Britain's Invensys plc are on watch Friday following market chatter that the company might be an acquisition target for Schneider Electric.

According to Bloomberg, Schneider might pony-up 505 pence per share for Invensys, which develops and applies technologies that enable the operation of manufacturing and energy-generating facilities, mainline and mass transit rail networks, and appliances worldwide. The offer is 319 pence in cash and 186 in stock. The deal values Invensys at about $5 billion (£3.3 billion).

Competition in the segment is vast, but Invensys previously mentioned names like Honeywell (NYSE: HON), Emerson (NYSE: EMR), ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB), Siemens (NYSE: SI), and Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK).

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) speculates that other potential suitors for Invensys would be ABB and General Electric (NYSE: GE), while Credit Suisse sees Emerson as a better option than Schneider in a takeover. Emerson chief David Farr said the company has been eying Invensys on-and-off for about 15 years and still might be interested in its process-automation unit.

Invensys operates in 180 countries and employs around 16,500 workers. The company is working to overcome £490 million in pension liabilities and recently sold its railroad unit to Siemens in a £1.74 billion deal.

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