GE Sells Majority of Homeland Protection Business
Under the terms of the deal, SAFRAN will have access to GE Research Centers and GE Healthcare’s intellectual property, and GE will appoint one member to Homeland Protection’s Board. GE Homeland Protection offers chemical and substance detection products based on GC, ion mobility spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy, as well as explosives detection equipment. According to SAFRAN, equipment represented 41% of GE Homeland Protection’s 2008 revenues. SAFRAN estimates the market for explosives and narcotics detection to be $2.4 billion, with non-aviation representing 54% of the market.
Newark, CA 4/23/09; Paris, France 4/24/09—GE has signed a definitive agreement to sell an 81% stake in GE Security’s Homeland Protection business to high-technology firm SAFRAN for $580 million. GE will retain a 19% stake. GE’s Homeland Protection business consists of products for checked-baggage screening, military and critical infrastructure protection, as well as products for chemical/biological, X-ray and radiation/nuclear detection. GE Homeland Protection has 780 employees, including 150 in R&D, and posted sales of $260 million in 2008. The Homeland Protection business will become part of SAFRAN’s Defense Security division of Sagem Securite. “Following our 2008 acquisitions of SDU-Identification (a Dutch manufacturer of secure passports and ID documents) and Motorola’s biometrics business (Printrak brand), adding GE Homeland Protection will significantly bolster our Group’s third core business,” stated Jean-Paul Herteman, CEO of SAFRAN. Dennis Cooke will continue as president and CEO of GE Homeland Protection, and the business’s headquarters will remain in Newark, California. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2009.
