Siemens Plessey

Siemens Plessey was a Siemens-owned grouping of businesses created from parts of the historic British electronics company Plessey after Siemens and General Electric Company plc jointly acquired Plessey in 1989. It was not an independent start-up founded under the Siemens Plessey name; rather, the name described the Plessey assets assigned to Siemens after the takeover and subsequent division of the company. The business was principally associated with defence electronics, radar systems and traffic-control technology, with related operations in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. The origins of the group lay in the restructuring of the British electronics and defence industries during the late 1980s. Plessey, founded in 1917, had become a major international supplier of electronics, telecommunications and defence equipment. At the time it was one of the United Kingdom’s largest defence-electronics contractors and a major supplier of traffic-control systems. A proposed full merger between Plessey and GEC was rejected by British regulatory authorities in 1988. As an alternative arrangement, the companies combined their communications operations in GEC Plessey Telecommunications, commonly known as GPT, while leaving the wider Plessey business subject to a later ownership contest. In 1989, GEC and Siemens established the joint holding company GEC Siemens plc and launched a successful hostile takeover of Plessey. The acquired assets were divided between the two partners. Siemens received Plessey’s radar, defence-systems and traffic-control businesses. The defence-electronics operations were subsequently identified as Siemens Plessey Systems in the United Kingdom and Siemens Plessey Electronics Systems in Australia. These operations carried forward Plessey’s engineering capabilities rather than establishing a wholly new product portfolio. Siemens Plessey’s market position was therefore based on technically specialized infrastructure and defence products rather than consumer branding. Its activities included radar and associated defence electronics, military systems and traffic-control equipment. The business operated within the broader Siemens industrial portfolio, while its defence activities were also connected to the United Kingdom’s defence procurement environment and to Siemens’s international technology network. The Siemens Plessey identity was short-lived as a standalone organizational label. In 1997, Siemens agreed to transfer its defence-electronics operations to British Aerospace and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. British Aerospace acquired the United Kingdom defence businesses, while DaimlerChrysler Aerospace acquired the German part of the operations. The British assets later became part of BAE Systems following the 1999 merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems. The German assets became part of EADS in 2000, when DaimlerChrysler Aerospace combined with Aérospatiale-Matra and CASA. Traffic-control activities followed a different path. Siemens Traffic Controls remained within Siemens for a period and was later incorporated into Siemens Mobility. That traffic-management business was subsequently sold to Mundys and operated under the Yunex Traffic name. Consequently, Siemens Plessey no longer exists as a unified operating brand, but its former businesses continued through successor companies in defence, aerospace and transportation technology. The name is primarily historically significant as a marker of Siemens’s ownership and reorganization of selected Plessey assets between 1989 and 1997.

Siemens Plessey originated in the breakup and redistribution of Plessey, a British electronics, telecommunications and defence company established in 1917. By the late 1980s, Plessey had become a substantial defence-electronics contractor and a major supplier of traffic-control equipment. A proposed full merger between Plessey and General Electric Company plc was rejected by United Kingdom regulators in 1988. The companies instead combined their communications businesses in GEC Plessey Telecommunications, or GPT, while Plessey’s other businesses remained subject to a contested takeover process. In 1989, GEC and Siemens AG created GEC Siemens plc and successfully acquired Plessey. The transaction divided most Plessey assets between the two partners. Siemens took control of the radar, defence-systems and traffic-control activities. Its defence operations were subsequently known as Siemens Plessey Systems in the United Kingdom and Siemens Plessey Electronics Systems in Australia. The Siemens Plessey designation therefore represented a group of inherited businesses rather than a newly founded company with a single original product line. The business focused on technologically specialized industrial markets. Its portfolio included radar, defence electronics, military systems and traffic-control equipment. These activities extended Plessey’s existing engineering and systems-integration capabilities under Siemens ownership and connected them to Siemens’s wider international industrial structure. The defence operations served markets requiring complex electronics and systems rather than mass-market products. Siemens reorganized the defence activities in 1997. British Aerospace acquired the United Kingdom defence businesses, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace acquired the German operations. The British assets were later absorbed into BAE Systems following the 1999 merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems. The German assets became part of EADS in 2000 when DASA merged with Aérospatiale-Matra and CASA. These transactions ended Siemens Plessey as a unified defence-electronics identity. The former traffic-control activities followed a separate corporate route. Siemens Traffic Controls remained within Siemens and later became associated with Siemens Mobility. That business was subsequently sold to Mundys and operated as Yunex Traffic. As a result, the Siemens Plessey name is now principally a historical reference to Siemens’s ownership of selected Plessey assets from 1989 until the defence-business transfers of 1997.

• 2000

  German assets become part of EADS

  [1]Siemens Plesseyen.wikipedia.org

  The German operations acquired by DASA become part of EADS after DASA combines with Aérospatiale-Matra and CASA.

• 1999

  British assets become part of BAE Systems

  [1]Siemens Plesseyen.wikipedia.org

  The former British Siemens Plessey defence businesses enter BAE Systems through the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems.

• 1997

  Defence-electronics operations are transferred

  [1]Siemens Plesseyen.wikipedia.org

  Siemens agrees to transfer the United Kingdom defence businesses to British Aerospace and the German operations to DaimlerChrysler Aerospace.

• 1989

  Siemens acquires Plessey assets

  [1]Siemens Plesseyen.wikipedia.org

  GEC and Siemens acquire Plessey through GEC Siemens plc. Siemens receives radar, defence-systems and traffic-control operations, which become known as Siemens Plessey.

• 1988

  Full GEC–Plessey merger is rejected

  [1]Siemens Plesseyen.wikipedia.org

  United Kingdom regulators reject a proposed full merger between GEC and Plessey. The companies instead combine their communications businesses in GEC Plessey Telecommunications.

• 1917

  Plessey is established

  [1]Siemens Plesseyen.wikipedia.org

  Plessey is founded in the United Kingdom and later develops into an international electronics, telecommunications and defence company whose assets eventually form the basis of Siemens Plessey.

A specialist industrial and defence-electronics business formed from acquired Plessey assets and positioned around radar, military systems and traffic-control technology.

• Defence electronics

  Radar systems

  Radar was one of the principal Plessey businesses transferred to Siemens in 1989. Under the Siemens Plessey identity, radar represented the group’s role in sophisticated sensing and defence-electronics systems. Specific product models are not identified in the available reference material.

• Military systems

  Defence systems

  The defence-systems activities covered military electronics and related system capabilities inherited from Plessey. Siemens operated these businesses in the United Kingdom and Germany until the 1997 transfers to British Aerospace and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace.

• Transport infrastructure

  Traffic-control systems

  Traffic-control equipment was another important Plessey activity acquired by Siemens. Unlike the defence businesses, these operations continued within Siemens, later becoming associated with Siemens Mobility before ultimately operating under the Yunex Traffic name after a sale to Mundys.

• 1997

  Exit the defence-electronics operationsM&A

  Background

  Siemens agreed to reorganize and transfer the Siemens Plessey defence businesses rather than retain them as a single Siemens-controlled operation.

  Action taken

  British Aerospace acquired the United Kingdom defence activities, while DaimlerChrysler Aerospace acquired the German operations.

  Aftermath

  The Siemens Plessey defence identity ended. The British assets later became part of BAE Systems and the German assets became part of EADS.

  Source

• 1989

  Acquire and divide Plessey assetsM&A

  Background

  Following regulatory resistance to a full GEC–Plessey merger, GEC and Siemens pursued a joint takeover through GEC Siemens plc and divided most of Plessey’s businesses.

  Action taken

  Siemens assumed Plessey’s radar, defence-systems and traffic-control operations, creating the organizational basis for Siemens Plessey.

  Aftermath

  The transaction expanded Siemens’s presence in defence electronics and transport technology while leaving the communications operations in the GEC/Siemens GPT joint venture.

  Source

1. 1Siemens Plesseyen.wikipedia.org