FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) — United Technologies Corp. has confirmed it talked with Honeywell International Inc. about the possibility of combining the two industrial conglomerates but determined that regulatory obstacles were too high to make a deal feasible.
Shares in United Tech jumped almost 5 percent Monday after news reports citing anonymous sources said the two companies had held merger talks. Honeywell declined comment on the reports.
But late Monday, United Tech acknowledged that "preliminary, exploratory conversations" had been held. It said, however, it did not pursue the talks further because it anticipated significant regulatory obstacles, customer concerns and price issues.
In particular, it said that combining two of the world's largest players in the aerospace and commercial building industries would face "insurmountable" opposition from government regulators.
