Thermo Electron To Split Into Three Companies

Thermo Electron Corp. announced a major reorganization Jan. 31 that entails splitting the company into three independent public entities, two of which will be spun off as dividends to Thermo Electron shareholders. As part of the plan, which is expected to take about one year to complete, Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Electron will sell businesses with aggregate revenues of $1.2 billion. This is in addition to other businesses it has sold since May 1999. Each of the three companies will have its own separate and independent board of directors and management team. Ultimately, Thermo Electron will become one integrated, publicly traded company that will focus on measurement and detection instruments. The other two companies will include Thermo Fibertek, a provider of separation technologies for the pulp and paper industries; and a medical products company that will include Thermo Electron's current neurodiagnostic, patient-monitoring, auditory, respiratory and pulmonary care, enteral feeding systems, and medical polymers product lines.