Story ID: 
Honeywell Tenders Buy Offer To EMS Technologies
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: Honeywell announced yesterday that it offered to acquire EMS Technologies for $491 million, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Word Count: 205
Honeywell announced yesterday that it offered to acquire EMS Technologies for $491 million, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. The acquisition should be completed in the third quarter of this year. EMS’s aviation division is a provider of satellite broadband communications systems and satcom antennas, but the company also specializes in asset tracking and management, military/government, space and mobile computing/data collection products and services. EMS Aviation offers satellite voice and email using the Iridium and Inmarsat networks and voice and high-speed data on Inmarsat as well as voice and data services for air traffic management and safety services. For military/government customers, EMS uses Inmarsat to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, airborne command and control and roll-on roll-off satcom systems. Honeywell CEO Dave Cote describes the acquisition of EMS as a “strategic fit” with its own stable of satcom products, including Ku-band and Swift64 systems that run on the Inmarsat network. But buying EMS instead of developing these products in-house accelerates Honeywell’s move further into the telecom sector. “When the opportunity presented itself,” said Rob Wilson, Honeywell president of business and general aviation, “this is a more efficient way to have this product in our portfolio earlier.”