Is America’s last big industrial conglomerate about to break up?

Vimal Kapur, the boss of Honeywell, ought to have seen it coming. Industrial conglomerates like his have lengthy been out of trend. Between the start of June final 12 months, when Mr Kapur took over at Honeywell, and November eleventh the agency’s shares had risen by simply 16%, in contrast with 46% for industrial firms in America’s S&P 500 index. On November twelfth Elliott Administration, a feared activist investor run by Paul Singer, introduced it had taken a $5bn stake within the firm, most likely its largest ever such place, and referred to as for Honeywell to interrupt itself up. Buyers appeared happy with the concept, sending Honeywell’s shares up by 4% on the day of the announcement.