Honeywell, with significant operations in Twin Cities, will break into three companies

Honeywell International, which has deep roots in Minnesota and still has significant operations in the state, will split into three separate companies.

Charlotte-based Honeywell, one of the last U.S. industrial conglomerates, announced Thursday it will break out its building automation and aerospace divisions into two separate businesses.

Honeywell said in December it was considering spinning off its aerospace division. Even earlier, it announced plans to spin off its advanced materials business, which makes electronic goods, refrigerants and industrial additives.

Honeywell has aerospace facilities in Plymouth and Minneapolis as well as a building automation operation in Golden Valley. It also has a facility in Bloomington.

The Honeywell breakup comes after an activist shareholder, Elliott Investment Management, bought a $5 billion stake in the company last fall. Elliott had been pushing for Honeywell to split its automation and aerospace divisions.

The separation of the automation and aerospace technologies businesses is expected to be completed in 2026, while the advanced materials business will be spun off by year’s end or in early 2026.

“This is just Day 1, and it’s business as usual and there will be no changes until the separation is complete in the second half of 2026,” a Honeywell spokeswoman said in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Honeywell had long called Minneapolis home, and it was one of Minnesota’s leading publicly traded corporations. But in 1999, its headquarters were moved to New Jersey after Allied Signal bought the company.

Honeywell relocated its headquarters again to Charlotte in 2019.

It’s not clear how many people Honeywell currently employs in Minnesota; the company declined on Thursday to provide a number.

Honeywell had 3,700 employees in Minnesota in 2018, including 1,700 in Golden Valley, before it split off its residential building controls unit into Resideo Technologies, a separate company.

Resideo, which is based in Austin, Texas, employed about 700 people in Minnesota in 2018, mostly in Golden Valley.

In 2019, Honeywell laid off about 90 workers in Golden Valley, and in 2020 it closed a plant in Coon Rapids with about 200 employees.

When the breakup is completed, Honeywell Automation will remain based in Charlotte. That division, which includes building controls, had $18 billion in revenue last year. Honeywell Aerospace, which had $15 billion in sales, will remain headquartered in Phoenix.

“The formation of three independent, industry-leading companies builds on the powerful foundation we have created, positioning each to pursue tailored growth strategies and unlock significant value for shareholders and customers,” Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur said in a statement.

Honeywell is one of several U.S. industrial conglomerates pressured by shareholders to break up, essentially splitting off divisions that make different products.

For instance, General Electric, an industrial colossus, began divesting its myriad operations in the 2000s and eventually split up into three separate companies — aerospace, health care and energy — over the past few years.

Separately Thursday, Honeywell forecast adjusted earnings of $10.10 to $10.50 a share for this year, falling short of the $10.94 average of analyst estimates, according to Bloomberg News.

Honeywell’s stock fell 5.6% Thursday to close at $209.82.

This story contains material from the Associated Press.