Swiss smart meter company Landis+Gyr is going up for sale, according to a Reuters story that cites "people familiar with the matter."
The company has annual sales of more than $1.3 billion and an installed base of more than 300 million meters.
Reuters reports that General Electric (NYSE: GE), Danaher Corp (NYSE: DHR), and Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) are among the conglomerates that could be interested in buying the company.
Private equity firms and technology companies like Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) are other possibilities, according to one source.
Landis+Gyr has gone through several different owners in the past, including Siemens (NYSE: SI) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Currently it is owned by a group of investors that includes Bayard Capital of Australia.
Landis+Gyr spokesman Stan March gave no comment, except to say that the company was built to become a publicly traded entity. One source told Reuters an IPO had been considered, but that market valuations were not where the owners wanted them to be.
Landis+Gyr has hired Credit Suisse and Lazard Ltd to advise on a sale, according to the story.
In 2010, Landis+Gyr surpassed Itron (Nasdaq: ITRI) as the number one smart meter supplier to utilities in the U.S., and the firm recently announced that it has been selected to provide meters for the first phase of a major smart grid project in China.
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I have no doubt that this company, like other smart meter developers, knows that the end of the wireless smart meter is near, due to health impacts, consumer complaints, and the state of the science, which shows harmful health effects are to be expected from the degree and types of rf emissions, despite the rigorous protests of utilities and obsolete standards. Visit http://www.smartmeterdangers.org to learn the basis for these statements.
Having worked in RF design which included designing radio devices for smart meters I can certainly advise that the information posted by smartmeterdangers is nothing short of rubbish!
I suggest you talk to meter manufacturers and get the facts about the technology employed in the design of smart meters before you go public with your comments.
I am no longer involved with any smart meter company but I can assure readers the risks you face are way less than your home wireless internet!