Honeywell International Inc. is considering a breakup following pressure from activist Elliott Investment Management to split, Bloomberg reports.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based industrial supergiant is planning to split into two independent publicly traded companies: one focused on automation; the other on aerospace and defense.
Honeywell could formally announce the plans with its fourth-quarter earnings, which are scheduled to be released in early February, according to sources close to the matter, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. The final details will need to be signed off by the company’s board.
Shares of Honeywell rose as much as 5% on Monday. The stock was up 0.6% at 2:26 p.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of about $143 billion. Honeywell’s shares are up about 11% over the last 12 months, trailing the 22% gain in the S&P 500 for the period.
Honeywell, which operates a plant in Baton Rouge, has taken steps to expand its Capital Region facilities over the last few years. In 2021, the company announced it was expanding its Baton Rouge facility to double the production capacity of Solstice ze, a supermarket refrigerant, and in 2023, it opened a new plant—its first large-scale manufacturing site for medical propellent Solstice Air.
