Deal Timeline

Plotted by close date where disclosed, otherwise announcement. Select any marker to jump to the deal entry.

The Acquisition Playbook.

Three patterns run through ABB's acquisitions — what it looks for, how it pays, and how it folds in what it buys.

01
Acquisition criteria
Buy leadership in North American electrification.
ABB used large all-cash deals to build scale in North America, where it had historically been under-represented — Baldor ($4.2B) in industrial motors, Thomas & Betts ($3.9B) in low-voltage products, and GE Industrial Solutions ($2.6B) in electrification. Together these deals roughly doubled ABB's addressable low-voltage market and made the US its largest single market.
Baldor Electric CompanyThomas & Betts CorporationPower-OneB&R (Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik)GE Industrial Solutions
02
Capital deployment
Fill technology gaps in automation.
Where organic development was too slow, ABB acquired capability outright — most notably B&R in 2017, which closed its long-standing gap in machine and factory automation, and ASTI Mobile Robotics in 2021, which added autonomous mobile robots to the Robotics & Discrete Automation segment.
Baldor Electric CompanyThomas & Betts CorporationPower-OneB&R (Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik)GE Industrial Solutions
03
Integration approach
Bet on the energy transition and e-mobility.
ABB backed electrification and clean-energy themes through deals such as Power-One in solar inverters and a cluster of EV-charging control acquisitions — Chargedot in China and InCharge Energy in the US — building its E-mobility segment, while pruning businesses (solar inverters, power grids) that no longer fit.
Baldor Electric CompanyThomas & Betts CorporationPower-OneB&R (Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik)GE Industrial Solutions

The Full Deal Book

10 acquisitions — each with the deal value, financing structure, target revenue, and executive commentary where disclosed.

01 Baldor Electric Company · Fort Smith, Arkansas, United States $4.2B
Announced Nov 2010 Closed Jan 2011 All cash

Baldor Electric is a North American leader in industrial electric motors, mechanical power transmission products and drives, headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas. ABB acquired the company through an all-cash tender offer valued at $4.2 billion including roughly $1.1 billion of assumed net debt. On completion, Baldor shares ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange. $4.2 billion (including $1.1 billion of net debt).

02 Thomas & Betts Corporation · Memphis, Tennessee, United States $3.9B
Announced Jan 2012 Closed May 2012 All cash

Thomas & Betts is a Memphis-based maker of low-voltage electrical components sold through a large North American network of distributors and wholesalers. ABB agreed to pay $72.00 per share in cash, about $3.9 billion, a 24 percent premium to the prior close. The deal roughly doubled ABB's addressable North American low-voltage products market and made the US ABB's single largest market. approximately $3.9 billion ($72.00 per share in cash).

03 Power-One, Inc. · Camarillo, California, United States $1.0B
Announced Apr 2013 Closed Jul 2013 All cash

Power-One was one of the largest global makers of solar PV inverters, which convert solar energy into grid-usable electric current, with a broad product range from residential to utility scale and about 3,500 employees across China, Italy, the United States and Slovakia. ABB agreed to pay $6.35 per share, an equity value of roughly $1.0 billion that included Power-One's net cash of $266 million. approximately $1.0 billion equity value ($6.35 per share in cash).

04 B&R (Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik) · Eggelsberg, Austria Not disclosed
Announced Apr 2017 Closed Jul 2017 All cash

B&R, founded in 1979 and headquartered in Eggelsberg, Austria, was the largest independent provider of product- and software-based, open-architecture machine and factory automation, with more than 3,000 employees including roughly 1,000 R&D and application engineers. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. B&R became a new global business unit, Machine & Factory Automation, within ABB's Industrial Automation division.

05 GE Industrial Solutions · Atlanta, Georgia, United States $2.6B
Announced Sep 2017 Closed Jun 2018 All cash

GE Industrial Solutions was General Electric's global electrification business, spanning low-voltage products, breakers, switchgear and control systems with a large installed base, especially in North America. ABB acquired it for about $2.6 billion and secured a long-term right to use the GE brand plus a strategic supply relationship with GE. approximately $2.6 billion.

06 Chargedot (Shanghai Chargedot New Energy Technology) · Shanghai, China Not disclosed
Announced Oct 2019 Closed Mar 2020 Majority stake

Shanghai-based Chargedot, established in 2009, supplies AC and DC EV charging stations and the accompanying software platform to EV manufacturers, charging-network operators and real-estate developers in China. ABB acquired a 67 percent majority stake, taking control of the business; it later raised the holding to 80 percent in 2022.

07 ASTI Mobile Robotics Group · Burgos, Spain $186M
Announced Aug 2021 Closed Aug 2021 All cash

ASTI Mobile Robotics, headquartered in Burgos, Spain, is a global manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). ABB acquired the company on August 2, 2021, with a cash outflow of $186 million net of cash acquired, as disclosed in its FY2023 Form 20-F. $186 million (cash outflow, net of cash acquired).

08 InCharge Energy, Inc. · Santa Monica, California, United States $134M
Announced Jan 2022 Closed Jan 2022 Cash

InCharge Energy, headquartered in Santa Monica, California, provides turn-key commercial electric-vehicle charging hardware and software. On January 26, 2022, ABB increased its ownership to a 60 percent controlling interest through a stock purchase agreement, a cash outflow of $134 million net of cash acquired, per its FY2023 Form 20-F; a put/call agreement covers the remaining 40 percent through 2027. $134 million (cash outflow, net of cash acquired) for a 60% controlling interest.

09 Siemens low-voltage NEMA motor business · Guadalajara, Mexico Not disclosed
Announced Aug 2022 Closed May 2023 All cash

ABB acquired Siemens' low-voltage NEMA motor business, which employs around 600 people, generated roughly $63 million of revenue in 2021, and runs manufacturing in Guadalajara, Mexico. Its horizontal and vertical induction severe-duty and general-purpose motors were re-branded as ABB and reintroduced during 2023.

10 Eve Systems GmbH · Munich, Germany Not disclosed
Announced Jun 2023 Closed Jun 2023 Cash

Eve Systems, a Munich-based smart-home maker established in 1999 with about 50 employees and roughly $20 million of 2022 revenue, builds home-automation, energy-management, security and appliance-monitoring devices. Its products are built on the Matter interoperability standard and Thread wireless connectivity.

More Acquirer Playbooks

See how VectorShift works for your firm

Request Demo