2000–2001
Tyco's aggressive acquisition strategy continued into the early 2000s, with the purchases of General Surgical Innovations, Siemens Electromechanical Components, AFC Cable and Praegitzer. The additions gave Tyco an ending fiscal 2000 year revenue exceeding $28 billion, nearly $2 billion coming from the sale by a subsidiary of its common shares.[5]
In the fiscal 2000 year, Tyco acquired Mallinckrodt Inc, a subsidiary of United States Surgical Corporation and Simplex Time Recorder Company which it merged in January 2002 with Grinnell Fire Protection to form an indirect wholly owned subsidiary, SimplexGrinnell LP, the world's largest fire protection company. For the year ended September 2000, the company's book value exceeded $141 billion. However, the company more than doubled its long-term debt, by over $80 billion.[12] "Mallinckrodt US LLC, is completely separate from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Mallinckrodt US LLC is a subsidiary of United States Surgical Corporation, and an affiliate of Medtronic plc, the ultimate parent company of both entities".[13]
In October 2001, the Engineered Products and Services segment acquired Century Tube Corp, and followed it by buying Water & Power Technologies in November 2001. The following November, the Tyco Electronics segment acquired Transpower Technologies. The next month, the Plastics and Adhesives segment acquired LINQ Industrial Fabrics, Inc.[5]
Early 2002
With complexity growing within Tyco's subsidiaries, in January 2002, Tyco announced a plan to split the business into four separate companies. However, this plan was abandoned after a downgrade in its credit rating and a significant drop in its stock price.
Later that month, Tyco's acquisitions continued throughout all of its segments: the Electronics segment acquired Communications Instruments, Inc. The Healthcare segment bought Paragon Trade Brands, a manufacturer of private label diapers for retailers such as Walmart, Kmart, Albertsons, CVS. The Engineered Products and Services segment acquired Clean Air Systems. And the Fire and Security segment of Tyco acquired SBC/Smith Alarm Systems, DSC Group, and Sensormatic Electronics Corp.[5]
For all the acquisitions Tyco made in 2002, the company also incurred extensive losses. During the first quarter of 2002, following the recession of the previous year, the electronics segment recorded a charge of over $2 billion, related to massive overcapacity of fiber-optic cable, which in turn affected the in-process buildout of Tyco's global undersea fiber-optic network, known as Tyco Global Network (TGN). TGN generated a loss for fiscal 2002 of over $3 billion, with a restructuring charge of over $500 million. Construction of TGN was eventually completed in 2003.[14]
The electronics segment also recorded over $1 billion in restructuring charges in 2002 from inventory write-down and facility closures. In addition, 2002 struck Tyco with two goodwill impairments, the first for over $500 million in the second quarter, due to their fiber-cable overcapacity issue and other corporate problems.
Late 2002
In July 2002, Edward D. Breen was appointed president, CEO, and chairman of Tyco for an initial three-year term. Breen had previously been president and COO of Motorola since his promotion at that company in January 2002.[16]
Breen made an immediate impact on Tyco by gutting the existing board of directors and leadership team that worked with Kozlowski and replacing them with a new set of managers. One month after his appointment, Tyco announced the appointment of John Krol as lead director of the board of directors with the priority of improving Tyco's corporate governance.[17]
Breen made additional changes, appointing David FitzPatrick as Executive Vice President and CFO, William Lytton, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, and Eric Pillmore as Senior Vice President of Corporate Governance.
With a new management team in place, Tyco began a two-phase internal investigation of former CEO Kozlowski. The investigation led to Tyco filing two federal lawsuits. On September 12 and December 6, 2002, Tyco filed a federal suit against Kozlowski and an arbitration claim against former CFO and director, Mark H. Swartz. Swartz, however, failed to submit to the American Arbitration Association and Tyco followed with a federal suit against him.[14]
2003
On February 3, 2003, the scandal continued to play out in the courts, Tyco and more personnel were again named as defendants in an amended consolidated class-action federal suit brought on behalf of retirees in its Retirement Savings and Investment Plans, citing causes under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. On December 2, 2004, the New Hampshire court granted in part Tyco's motion to dismiss.[20]
Removed from the scandal, Tyco made internal moves within the company in 2003 forming its Plastics & Adhesives business segment, a former piece of the Healthcare & Specialty Products segment. Other changes came in Tyco's corporate governance: Tyco's board re-elected John Krol as lead director, Tyco reorganized the assignments of the board's committee, adopted a new board of governance principles and new Delegation of Authority policy which strengthened control over cash disbursements within the company.
The final improvement on corporate governance came in the Guide to Ethical Conduct. The guide was produced to advise employees as to correct procedures and warn of unethical practices and behavior. All Tyco employees are now required to take a brief ethics course and sign an annual ethics statement.
2004
In an effort to enhance consumer awareness and revive corporate image, in June 2004, Tyco launched a new global print-advertising campaign, "Tyco a vital part of your world." Tyco also began a divestiture program following a review of its core businesses. Part of the plan was to sell TGN, which by then had been entirely written off in value. Agreement for the sale was reached in November.
In the second quarter of 2004, ADT Security sold off Sonitrol.
In all, within its divestiture program, by fiscal year end of 2004, Tyco had divested 21 businesses and liquidated four non-core businesses, primarily within the Fire and Security segment.
In September 2004, Tyco also divested Electrical Contracting Services from the electronics segment, due to a decrease in sales. After September 30, Tyco divested an additional seven non-core businesses, bringing the program aggregate proceeds up to $500 million that year.
By the end of 2004, Tyco employed under 260,000 people, with two-thirds outside the United States. Revenue was up strongly, to over $40 billion for the first time. Once again the strengthening euro against the dollar helped Tyco, accounting primarily for $1.5 billion of the increase in revenue. Various charges, losses, and debt repayment totaled nearly $1 billion in 2004, however, profitability tripled that year to almost $3 billion.
2005
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), India acquired the Tyco Global Network (TGN) from Tyco International for $130 million. The chief stockholder in VSNL is India's Tata Group, also one of India's largest conglomerates. It was once valued at $3 billion during the telecommunications bubble.
Tyco continued its divestiture program throughout 2005. The largest divestiture came in the announcement of a definitive agreement to sell its Plastics, Adhesives and Ludlow Coated Products businesses to an affiliate of private investment firm Apollo Management, L.P. Tyco believed the segment no longer fit within the company's portfolio.
Tyco was awarded the largest statewide public safety communications project in the United States in 2004 when one of Tyco Electronics' businesses, M/A-COM Technology Solutions, signed a contract to maintain New York's Statewide Wireless Network (SWN). The contract was worth approximately $2 billion and would last for 20 years.
Tyco also acquired two key companies to its Healthcare segment, Vivant Medical Inc. and Floréane Medical Implants.
2006–2007
On February 16, 2006, a group of institutional investors, part of an existing lawsuit against Tyco International, sued the company to stop its proposed breakup plan.[21]
By the end of the fiscal year 2006, Tyco's revenue had eclipsed $17 billion.[22] Despite the strong cash flow, growing revenue and decreased debt, Tyco and its board of directors approved a plan to separate Tyco into three publicly independent companies. Tyco believed that this would allow for each segment to perform better within its particular market and create more value for its shareholders.
The separation was completed in July 2007, when Tyco separated into three publicly independent companies:[5]
Following the separation, chairman and CEO Ed Breen remained at the head of Tyco International, which was then composed of five major business segments: ADT Worldwide, Fire Protection Services, Safety Products, Flow Control and Electrical and Metal Products. The company generated revenue of $18.8 billion in 2007, and employed 118,000 people across all 50 states and in more than 60 countries.[1]