ZURICH, July 16 (Reuters) - ABB ABBN.S announced a $5.5 billion deal for British automation company Rotork ROR.L on Thursday, the Swiss engineering group's largest-ever acquisition after years of reshaping its portfolio with a string of large divestments and smaller purchases.
The recommended cash offer for Rotork exceeds ABB's $4.2 billion deal for electrical components maker Baldor in 2011 and its $3.9 billion purchase of motors and drives maker Thomas & Betts, which ABB bought in 2012.
Rotork makes equipment that automatically opens, closes, and precisely controls valves that regulate the flow of liquids and gases, with customers in industries including oil and gas, water and wastewater, power generation, chemicals, marine, mining and processing.
The company, which had 2025 revenue of around $1 billion, has been growing by around 8% annually, and will add around 3% to ABB's revenue.
With a profit margin of 24.6%, Rotork is also expected to be immediately accretive to ABB's own margin, which rose again during its latest quarter, the company also reported on Thursday.
"ABB has followed Rotork over many years," said ABB CEO Morten Wierod. "We are convinced of the compelling strategic fit of the transaction that will expand our automation offering at the field device layer."
The deal is the latest foreign bid for a UK company, putting Britain on track to outstrip all previous years for dealmaking in 2026.
ABB's purchase of Bath-based Rotork follows bids for Britain's Intertek ITRK.L, Schroders SDR.L and Unilever's ULVR.L food unit, as well as U.S.-listed Ingredion's INGR.N offer for Tate & Lyle TATE.L, which came in June.
ABB Chairman Peter Voser told Reuters earlier this year that ABB was eying larger acquisitions, as the company sought to speed up growth after years of divestments.
In recent years, ABB has raised more money from divestments than it has spent on acquisitions as part of greater emphasis on electrification and automation products.
ABB said it was funding the Rotork acquisition with the $4.8 billion proceeds from its decision last October to sell its robotics division to SoftBank Group 9984.T.
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