EMR Emerson Electric Co

By Dean Seal

Emerson Electric Co. will acquire National Instruments Corp. for $60 a share in cash.

The St. Louis-based technology and engineering company said Wednesday that it has reached a deal that gives National Instruments an equity value of $8.2 billion.

Emerson already owns about 2% of the company's shares and had been trying for nearly a year to buy all of National Instruments' outstanding equity.

In January, Emerson publicized a $53-per-share acquisition offer that the Austin-based company's board had rejected in an effort to entice National Instruments' shareholders. The public proposal came eight months after the board of National Instruments declined Emerson's offer for an acquisition at $48 a share.

The latest $60-a-share offer received approval from both companies' boards.

Emerson said it expects to finance the deal with available cash and liquidity, including about $8 billion of post-tax proceeds from the sale of its majority stake in its Climate Technologies business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone, which is expected to close in the second quarter of this calendar year.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of Emerson's fiscal 2024.

Emerson's existing 2.3 million shares of the company were acquired at a weighted average price of $36.84, making Emerson's effective per-share purchase price $59.61.

National Instruments' shares were halted at $52.58 in premarket trading. Shares of Emerson fell 1.7% to $83.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 12, 2023 08:44 ET (12:44 GMT)

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