ABB to sell Power Grids to Hitachi, revamp business structure

[December 17, 2018]  ZURICH (Reuters) - ABB <ABBN.S> reached a deal with Japan's Hitachi <6501.T> to sell its Power Grids division, with the Swiss engineering group adding it plans to return net cash proceeds of $7.6-7.8 billion from selling the 80.1 percent stake in the unit to shareholders.

A man takes pictures of the logo of Swiss power technology and automation group ABB ahead of a news conference to present the company's full year results, in Zurich, Switzerland, February 8, 2018. REUTERS/Moritz Hager

The Zurich-based company, which will initially retain 19.1 percent of the division, also said on Monday it would be modifying the structure of remaining businesses, resulting in roughly $500 million annual run-rate cost reductions across the group following $500 million in non-operational restructuring charges.

(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Christoph Steitz)

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