ABB Unloads Its Nuclear Power Business to BNFL

In a move that concentrates the buyer, BNFL, as one of the premier providers of technology and services to the nuclear power industry, ABB (Zurich, Switzerland) has sold its nuclear business for $485 million-about what the business grossed in 1998, according to ABB. BNFL (Warrington, U.K.), which had acquired the nuclear business of the former Westinghouse Electric Co. earlier this year, picks up both the boiling-water reactor business originated by Combustion Systems, and the nuclear control systems business of ABB. The ABB nuclear business is headquartered in Windsor, CT, and includes operations in Sweden, France and Germany. About 3,000 employees are also involved.

Goran Lindahl, president of ABB, says that the divestiture is "in line with ABB's strategy to expand in knowledge and service sectors, and to focus on those businesses where clear synergies can be created. John Taylor, BNFL CEO, says that the purchase "represents an opportunity to offer an even broader range of services to our customers."

Earlier this year, ABB had reorganized its power business (non-nuclear) in a joint venture with France's Ahlstom; the j.v. is ABB Alstom Power. ABB's key markets are now, it says, industrial automation, service, power transmission and distribution, building systems, oil, gas and petrochemicals, and financial services.

Edited by Nick Basta