GE to buy Ionics for $1.1 billion to build water business

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004 | 9:59 a.m.

General Electric Co., the world's largest company by market value, agreed to acquire Ionics Inc. for $1.1 billion in cash to build its water-treatment business.

General Electric will pay $44 a share, a 48 percent premium to Ionics' stock price Tuesday. Investors holding 20 percent of Ionics' stock outstanding have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction, General Electric said in a statement.

The purchase will add desalination and filtration systems to General Electric's industrial water-treatment division, the world's second-largest according to General Electric. It also will help accelerate the development of new water-purification technology, the company said. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt is buying businesses to help push yearly profit up at least 10 percent starting next year.

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