Allegheny Teledyne Plans Spinoffs
Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Teledyne Inc., the world’s top specialty metals producer, said Tuesday that it plans to spin off its aerospace, electronics and consumer products operations into two separate publicly traded companies in Southern California as early as November.
Four aerospace and electronics divisions will unite to form Teledyne Technologies Inc., headquartered in Los Angeles. The company’s consumer products division, based in Newport Beach, will become Water Pik Technologies.
The moves, driven by Allegheny’s desire to focus on its core business, will not impact the company’s 2,000 California employees or its plant locations, executives said.
“As independent corporations . . . they will just take on their own financial and management identities,” Allegheny spokesman Dan Greenfield said.
The parent company will be renamed Allegheny Technologies Inc. To complete the changes, the company plans a reverse stock split that gives investors one share of Allegheny Technologies for every two shares they own of Allegheny Teledyne.
Shareholders also will get one share of common stock in Teledyne Technologies for every seven shares of Allegheny Teledyne and one share in Water Pik Technologies for every 20 shares of Allegheny Teledyne.
Teledyne Technologies will unify Los Angeles-based Electric Technologies; Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Ala.; Continental Motors of Mobile, Ala.; and Cast Parts, which has plants in Industry and Pomona. Those units had 1998 revenue of $800 million, the company reported.
Water Pik Technologies will combine operations that produce Water Pik dental equipment, shower heads, water filtration systems and pool and spa products. These units had 1998 revenue of $250 million, the company said.
The spinoffs culminate a two-year consolidation effort by Allegheny Teledyne, which was formed by a 1996 merger between Allegheny Ludlum Corp. and Los Angeles-based Teledyne Inc. The company has sold off a series of smaller Teledyne aerospace and electronics businesses this year, reaping $350 million.
Allegheny Teledyne shares fell 19 cents to close at $18.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.
