- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced this week that it has agreed to acquire privately-held Sparta Systems for $1.3 billion in an all-cash transaction from New Mountain Capital. These are the details.
Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced this week that it has agreed to acquire privately-held Sparta Systems for $1.3 billion in an all-cash transaction from New Mountain Capital. Sparta Systems is known for being a leading provider of enterprise quality management software (QMS), including a next-generation SaaS platform, for the life sciences industry. And the acquisition further strengthens Honeywell’s leadership in industrial automation, digital transformation solutions and enterprise performance management software.
Honeywell will utilize its global presence, Honeywell Forge, and Sparta’s expertise to launch new integrated solutions, including QMS offerings for life sciences and adjacent industries. And Honeywell’s customers will benefit from advanced digital QMS solutions to help them proactively achieve better quality — which results in improved new therapies, faster time to market, better business and patient outcomes, and effective regulatory compliance.
For drug manufacturers and biomedical firms, Honeywell has provided consistently innovative advancements in automation technologies, systems, and services for over 30 years. And Honeywell’s portfolio includes advanced automation and process controls for consistency and oversight of both continuous and batch processing, data capture, and recording solutions that simplify and safeguard compliance, and technologies that help maintain audibility, optimize production and speed time to market while ensuring quality and repeatability. Plus Honeywell’s Fast Track Automation helps life science manufacturers expedite the development and production of vital vaccines and medical therapies.
Sparta Systems, which is based in Hamilton, N.J., and has approximately 250 employees globally. And Sparta serves more than 400 customers, including 42 of the world’s top 50 pharma companies and 33 of the top 50 medical device companies.
Honeywell is going to continue to enhance TrackWise Digital QMS by adding AI and machine learning capabilities that augment human decision making. And Honeywell will also add new IoT-enabled connectivity between quality and operational data to detect manufacturing anomalies and triage quality events in near real time. These continuing innovations will help customers proactively address quality to improve patient safety and effective regulatory compliance.
The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the Q1 2021 and is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. And there is no change to Honeywell’s 2020 financial outlook as a result of the acquisition.
KEY QUOTES:
“Sparta’s TrackWise Digital and QualityWise.ai are a welcome addition to Honeywell’s enterprise performance management software, Honeywell Forge, and will further enhance the link between quality and production data for life sciences manufacturers. Our combined offerings will make it easier for customers to gain critical insights from manufacturing and quality data that can improve their manufacturing processes while ensuring product quality, patient safety, and supply chain continuity.”
— Que Dallara, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Connected Enterprise
“Sparta Systems is an ideal complement to our life sciences portfolio. While Sparta’s capabilities will initially help us expand our capabilities for our existing breakthrough initiative in life sciences, we plan to leverage Honeywell’s global footprint and expertise to quickly expand Sparta’s capabilities to serve other markets. We have strong conviction in the growth opportunities in the life sciences and pharmaceuticals space and in the synergies between Sparta and Honeywell both for Honeywell Connected Enterprise and Honeywell Forge as well as for Honeywell Process Solutions.”
— Rajeev Gautam, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies
“Organizations need a quality management software solution with advanced digital capabilities that effectively automates, optimizes and standardizes quality processes across the board. When you combine Sparta’s leading QMS platform with Honeywell’s existing process automation and software offerings, you create a highly differentiated, comprehensive solution that allows customers to focus more on the value-add activities that will accelerate their growth.”
— Dana Jones, chief executive officer of Sparta Systems
“Since we partnered with Sparta in 2017, the company launched its TrackWise Digital platform – the only AI-enabled QMS solution, expanded its SaaS customer base by two-and-a-half times, and significantly invested in product development and R&D. We are excited to watch Sparta continue to thrive within the Honeywell organization.”
— Pete Masucci, managing director of New Mountain Capital
