United Technologies

In 1974, Harry Gray left Litton Industries to become the CEO of United Aircraft.[8] He pursued a strategy of growth and diversification, changing the parent corporation's name to United Technologies Corporation (UTC) in 1975 to reflect the intent to diversify into numerous high tech fields beyond aerospace.[9] (The change became official on May 1, 1975.) The diversification was partially to balance civilian business against any overreliance on military business.[8] UTC became a mergers and acquisitions (M&A)–focused organization, with various forced takeovers of unwilling smaller corporations.[8] The next year (1976), UTC forcibly acquired Otis Elevator.[10] In 1979, Carrier Refrigeration and Mostek were acquired;[11] the Carrier deal was forcible, while the Mostek deal was a white knight move against hostile takeover designs by Gould.

At one point, the military portion of UTC's business, whose sensitivity to "excess profits" and boom/bust demand drove UTC to diversify away from it, actually carried the weight of losses incurred by the commercial M&A side of the business.[8] Although M&A activity was not new to United Aircraft, the M&A activity of the 1970s and 1980s was higher-stakes and arguably unfocused. Rather than aviation being the central theme of UTC businesses, high tech (of any type) was the new theme. Some Wall Street watchers questioned the true value of M&A at almost any price, seemingly for its own sake.[8]

Mostek was sold in 1985 to the French electronics company Thomson.

UTC acquired Sundstrand Corporation in 1999, and merged it into UTC's Hamilton Standard unit to form Hamilton Sundstrand.

In 2003, UTC entered the fire and security business by purchasing Chubb Security.

In 2004, UTC acquired the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation which planned to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under their Sikorsky Aircraft division.[12]

In 2005, UTC further pursued its stake in the fire and security business by purchasing Kidde. Also in 2005, UTC acquired Boeing's Rocketdyne division, which was merged into the Pratt & Whitney business unit and renamed Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (later sold to Aerojet) and merged into Aerojet Rocketdyne.

In 2007, UTC opened the Hawk Works, a Rapid Prototyping and Military Derivatives Completion Center (RPMDCC) located west of the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats, New York.[13]

In March 2008, UTC made a $2.63 billion bid to acquire Diebold, a Canton, Ohio based manufacturer of banking and voting machines. Diebold rejected the buyout bid as inadequate.[14]

In November 2008, UTC's Carrier Corporation acquired NORESCO, an energy service company.[15]

In December 2009, it was announced that UTC would acquire a 49.5% stake in Clipper Windpower for $206 million.[16][17][18][19]

In April 2010, UTC announced that it was investing €15 million ($20 million) to set up the United Technologies Research Centre Ireland at University College Cork’s Tyndall National Institute which will carry out research on energy and security systems.[20]

In October 2010, UTC agreed with Clipper to acquire the rest of the company.[21]

Also in 2010, UTC conducted its largest acquisition up to this year, General Electric's security equipment business for US$1.8 billion, a move to support UTC's Fire & Security unit.[22]

In September 2011, UTC acquired a $18.4 billion deal (including $1.9 billion in net debt assumed) for aircraft components maker Goodrich Corporation.[23]

In June 2012, it was discovered that UTC sold military technology to the Chinese.[24] For pleading guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act and making false statements, United Technologies and its subsidiaries were fined $75 million.[25]

In July 2012, United Technologies acquired Goodrich and merged it with Hamilton Sundstrand; the resulting organization is UTC Aerospace Systems.

In February 2013, UTC Power was sold to ClearEdge Power.[26]

In October 2014, Toshiba and United Technologies made a deal to expand their joint venture outside Japan.[27]

In January 2015, UTC Building & Industrial Systems completed the acquisition of CIAT Group, a leading HVAC manufacturing company in France.[28] In November, Lockheed Martin completed its $9.0 billion acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft.[29]

In February 2016, UTC subsidiary Carrier Air Conditioner announced to employees at its Indianapolis and Huntington plants, that Carrier is moving manufacturing to Mexico: "The best way to stay competitive and protect the business for long-term is to move production from our facility in Indianapolis to Monterrey, Mexico. "[30] In December, Carrier agreed to keep the Indianapolis plant open, keeping 700 jobs in Indianapolis.[31] The plant in Huntington, Indiana would still close their doors, leaving 700 employees jobless.[32]

On September 4, 2017, UTC proposed to acquire Rockwell Collins in cash and stock for $23 billion, $30 billion including Rockwell Collins' net debt, for $500+ million of synergies expected by year four.[33]

On November 26, 2018, the company announced the Rockwell Collins deal had closed, and that it will split into three independent companies.[34] Pratt and Whitney and the newly-formed Collins Aerospace will remain under United Technologies, while Otis Elevator and UTC Climate, Controls & Security (doing business as Carrier) will be spun off as two independent companies.[35]

In June 2019, United Technologies announced the intention to merge with defense contractor Raytheon to form Raytheon Technologies Corporation. The combined company, valued at more than $100 billion after planned spinoffs, would be the world's second-largest aerospace-and-defense company by sales behind Boeing.[36] Although UTC will be the nominal survivor, the merged company will be headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, where Raytheon is based.[37]

In March 2020, United Technologies Corporation announced the separations of Carrier and Otis.[38]

In April 2008, Louis Chênevert succeeded George David as the company's chief executive officer (CEO).[22][2] Chênevert served until 2014, when he was succeeded by Gregory Hayes.[2]

The chief financial officer's (CFO) position was held by Gregory Hayes until 2014, when he succeeded Louis Chênevert as CEO.[2]

The chairman of the board of directors (Chairperson) position went to Louis Chênevert, then the company's CEO, in January 2010, succeeding George David.[22]

• Clipper Windpower: A maker of wind turbines. In December 2010 Clipper Windpower was acquired by United Technologies Corporation. It was sold in 2012 to Platinum Equity LLC.
• Hamilton Standard: which became part of Hamilton Sundstrand, now part of UTC Aerospace Systems.
• Hamilton Test Systems, an Arizona-based developer of vehicle emission test equipment, which was sold to Georgetown Partners in December 1990, which renamed it Envirotest Systems Corp. It is now part of Environmental Systems Products Holdings (ESPH).
• Inmont: paint and resins, which was later sold to BASF
• Mostek semiconductor: from 1979 to 1985
• Norden Systems: a corporation that manufactures electronics systems for military use, now a part of Northrop Grumman.
• Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne: sold in June 2013 and now part of GenCorp
• Sikorsky Aircraft: maker of helicopters for commercial, industrial, institutional, government, and military use;[22] now a part of Lockheed Martin[49]
  • PZL Mielec[50]
• Turbo Power and Marine Systems, Inc: a manufacturer of simple-cycle electrical power generation units of 25 MW and 50 MW. Renamed Pratt & Whitney Power Systems in 2000,[51] sold to Mitsubishi Heavy Industry in May 2013[52] and is now a MHI group company named PW Power Systems, Inc.
• UT Automotive: now a division of Lear Corporation
• UT Communications: bought Lexar and Stromberg Carlson, makers of telephone equipment, which were later sold to Memorex in 1985.
• UTC Power: a manufacturer of distributed power generation systems and fuel cells for commercial, transportation, and space and defense applications. It was sold to ClearEdge Power in February 2013.