Smiths Group to sell Detection business to CVC Capital in £2bn deal

(Sharecast News) - Smiths Group said on Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its Detection business to CVC Capital Partners for an enterprise value of £2bn as it looks to focus on premium industrial engineering. The deal - which is expected to close in the second half of next year - along with the recently-announced sale of Smiths Interconnect, represents "significant further progress on the strategic actions announced in January 2025", it said.

"This repositions Smiths as a focused, high-performance, industrial engineering company, and delivers significant value for all stakeholders."

Smiths plans to return a large portion of the net cash proceeds from the proposed transaction to shareholders and will provide an update on timing and mechanism in due course.

Chief executive Roland Carter said the company had reached "another significant milestone".

"This builds on our recently announced sale of Smiths Interconnect and demonstrates strong execution against the strategic actions we set out in January centred on value creation," he said. "We are focusing Smiths as a premium industrial engineering company specialising in flow management and thermal solutions, and today's announcement positions us strongly to deliver enhanced growth and returns."