Carlyle Group LP said it has agreed to purchase Illinois Tool Works Inc's industrial packaging unit for $3.2 billion, the private equity firm's latest acquisition of a large unit being carved out of conglomerates.The sale puts the Glenview, Illinois-based company well on its way to meeting its stated goal of divesting a quarter of its businesses in terms of revenue. Over the next few years, this will allow the company to focus on higher-margin businesses.Carlyle, which has a long track record of acquiring non-core businesses from companies and turning them around, prevailed over a rival bidder -- the consortium of Onex Corp and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) -- in the final stretch of the auction, Reuters reported earlier on Thursday.While Illinois Tool Works did not formally grant exclusivity to any of the bidders, it focused on negotiating final deal terms with Carlyle in the last two days, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shares of CG traded higher by 4.81% or $1.56/share to $33.99. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $23.85 and as high as $38.13. On average, 422823 shares of CG exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 492900.
Source
