Eaton to buy TransDigm Group's Souriau-Sunbank Connection Technologies unit

CLEVELAND—Power management giant Eaton Corp. said July 22, that it has agreed to buy the Souriau-Sunbank Connection Technologies business of Cleveland-based TransDigm Group Inc. for $920 million.

Souriau-Sunbank, headquartered in Versailles, France, and founded more than a century ago, makes electrical interconnect products for harsh environments for customers in the aerospace, defense, industrial, energy and transport industries. It has about 3,200 workers and manufacturing operations in France, the Dominican Republic, India, Morocco, Mexico and the U.S.

For the 12-month period ending June 30, Souriau-Sunbank's sales were $363 million, Eaton said in a news release.

"Souriau-Sunbank is a great fit with our current aerospace portfolio," Craig Arnold, Eaton's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "Souriau-Sunbank's extensive connectors capabilities will accelerate our participation in the growing market for electrical content on aircraft, and also give us a strong portfolio of connectors for the industrial, energy and transport markets that we serve today."

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, subject to various regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Eaton, which is based in Dublin, Ireland, but has its North American headquarters in Beachwood, Ohio, said the acquisition would be "accretive to adjusted earnings per share in 2020." Eaton has sales of $21.6 billion in 2018.

The deal is a case of one Northeast Ohio corporate giant taking on a business that wasn't a fit for another Northeast Ohio behemoth.

TransDigm acquired Souriau-Sunbank in March 2019 as part of its $4 billion purchase of Esterline Technologies Corp.

In its news release about the deal with Eaton, TransDigm executive chairman W. Nicholas Howley said, "As previously communicated, we have been considering divesting some Esterline portfolio businesses that do not align well with TransDigm's strategy. As such, we are pleased to have an agreement for the divestiture of Souriau-Sunbank to Eaton. This is a high-quality, well-established connector business. We are confident that its customers will continue to be well-served as we work toward a successful completion of the transaction."