Westinghouse Electric Company

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The Westinghouse Electric Company is a present-day nuclear technology business. See Westinghouse (disambiguation) for other uses, including the famous corporation's history prior to 1999 and recent licensing deals.

The Westinghouse Electric Company is a nuclear reactor technology company. It was sold to Toshiba in 2006. Previously, it was a subsidiary of BNFL plc and, prior to that, the CBS group.

History

In 1995 Westinghouse Electric Corporation purchased CBS and started divesting its industrial and defense businesses. In 1996 the company sold its defense electronics business and purchased Infinity Broadcasting. In 1997 the company was renamed CBS Corporation. In 1999 CBS Corp sold its nuclear business to BNFL, who renamed it Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC

In 2000 the ABB Group's nuclear power business was purchased by BNFL and merged into Westinghouse.

Toshiba

In July 2005 BNFL confirmed it planned to sell Westinghouse, then estimated to be worth $1.8bn (£1bn). However the bid attracted interest from several companies, including Toshiba, General Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and when the Financial Times reported on January 23, 2006 that Toshiba had won the bid, it valued the company's offer at $5bn (£2.8bn). On February 6 2006 Toshiba confirmed it was buying Westinghouse Electric Company for $5.4bn and announced it would sell a minority stake to investors.[link]

The sale has surprised many industry experts who question the wisdom of selling one of the world's largest producers of nuclear reactors shortly before the market for nuclear power is expected to grow substantially; China, the United States and the United Kingdom are all expected to invest heavily in nuclear power. BBC News (2006) ["BNFL to sell US power plant arm"] Retrieved Feb. 6 2006 However The Economist gives several reasons in favour of a sale; the commercial risk of the company's business in Asia may be too high for taxpayers money, if Westinghouse won the bid for any new nuclear stations in the UK competition questions may be raised, if lost it may be seen as a lack of faith in its own [Westinghouse] technology' and finally the record of UK governments building nuclear plants is a commercial disaster. "Technology transfer" (Jan. 28, 2006) The Economist pp. 30—31

References

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