Brooke Sutherland, Columnist

The Rockwell Automation Bidding Starts at $27 Billion

Rockwell Automation is a trophy asset just like Rockwell Collins, which fetched a high price earlier this year.

October 31, 2017 at 3:26 PM UTC

Brooke Sutherland is Bloomberg News' Boston bureau chief and writes the Industrial Strength Newsletter. She was previously a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies and an M&A reporter for Bloomberg News.

1509465487_pic — Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Rockwell Automation Inc., the subject of perennial takeover speculation, now has a real, live suitor. Expect more to emerge.

The $26 billion maker of factory software and controls confirmed on Tuesday that Emerson Electric Co. had offered to acquire it for $215 a share, with the bid composed of 50 percent cash and the rest in stock. The price works out to about 22 times Rockwell Automation's trailing 12-month Ebitda, or about double the median multiple for big industrial takeovers over the last decade. The $27 billion proposal1509465249959 -- like the several before that Emerson has reportedly made -- was resoundingly rejected.