TRW Sells Industrial Sensors and Components Businesses As Part of Debt Reduction Plan

7 August 2000

TRW Sells Industrial Sensors and Components Businesses As Part of Debt Reduction Plan

    CLEVELAND - TRW Inc. announced today that it has completed the sale of two non-core businesses within its sensors and components product line to Measurement Specialties, Inc., a Fairfield, New Jersey, producer of electronic sensors and sensor-based consumer products. The sale price was $17.7 million.

    The two divested businesses, Schaevitz US Operations and Schaevitz UK Operations, are part of TRW's automotive electronics business and produce displacement sensors, tilt sensors and pressure sensors primarily for industrial use. Schaevitz US, headquartered in Hampton, Virginia, employs 130 people, and Schaevitz UK, based in Slough, United Kingdom, employs 120 people. The two businesses had annual sales of approximately $28 million in 1999.

    "These two businesses have been good, profitable operations for us, but they are not strategic to TRW's long-term business plan," said Heinz Pfannschmidt, executive vice president and general manager, TRW Automotive Electronics. "Our desire was to find a buyer who would continue to invest in the businesses and make them even stronger. We have found that buyer in Measurement Specialties."

    Proceeds from the divestiture will be used to reduce debt TRW incurred from its 1999 acquisition of LucasVarity plc.

    In the first six months of 2000, TRW reduced net debt by approximately $1.5 billion. This amount, coupled with the $1.0 billion of net debt reduction achieved in 1999, enabled TRW to reach its $2.5 billion debt reduction goal established at the time of the LucasVarity acquisition, six months ahead of schedule. The sale of the two businesses announced today is a component of the program to reduce debt by an incremental $300 million by the end of this year.

    Measurement Specialties, Inc., designs, develops, produces, and sells electronic sensors and sensor-based consumer products. The Company's products include sensors for high volume industrial applications, body-weight, kitchen, and postal scales, electronic tire pressure gauges, parking aids, and distance estimators.

    TRW Automotive Electronics is a unit of TRW Inc. , which provides advanced technology products and services for the global automotive, aerospace and information systems markets. The company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, is one of the largest independent automotive suppliers in the world.