By Eric Pfanner And Takashi Mochizuki
TOKYO-- Hitachi Ltd., moving to expand its transportation
business overseas, has agreed to buy the rail division of
Finmeccanica S.p.A of Italy for Yen250 billion (about $2.1
billion), a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday.
The deal follows months of negotiations, during which Hitachi
outlasted a rival bidder, Insigma Group of China.
After restructuring to scale back its consumer electronics
business, the Japanese conglomerate has been pushing to expand
abroad in areas ranging from train building to power generation
equipment, in order to reduce its reliance on the slow-growing
domestic market. The company moved the headquarters of its rail
division to London from Tokyo last year after winning an order to
supply high-speed trains in Britain.
Finmeccanica, an industrial and military contracting
conglomerate that is controlled by the Italian government, has been
trying to sell its train-making arm, AnsaldoBreda, as well as its
stake in a rail signaling operating, Ansaldo STS, in order to
reduce debt.
AnsaldoBreda makes high-speed trains for the Italian national
railways, as well as rolling stock for the Milan Metro and other
railway systems.
Write to Eric Pfanner at eric.pfanner@wsj.com and Takashi
Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com
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