ITT to keep HQ in Westchester

It looks like employees at ITT Corp. headquarters in White Plains won”™t be affected by the planned corporate change as the company spins off two major businesses.

ITT confirmed the remaining ITT Corp. as well as the future water technology company will be based in Westchester.

“The future ITT Corp. is expected to remain headquartered in the Westchester County area following completion of the separation,” said B.J. Talley, public relations manager at ITT.

The future water technology company will keep its staff and establish official corporate headquarters in the current White Plains location, the spokesperson added. The future defense company will have its headquarters at its current main location in Fairfax County, Va.

ITT has about 300 employees at its White Plains headquarters and some 40,000 employees worldwide. The company is getting closer to spinning off two major businesses. On July 14, the diversified manufacturer unveiled names of the companies that will result from the spinoffs.

Its future water and wastewater transport and treatment company will be named Xylem, a Greek-derived word that refers to a type of transport tissues that carry water and nutrients in plants. Its future defense company will be called ITT Exelis, a name the company created from the word “excel.”

The future ITT Corp. after spinoffs is projected to have more than $2 billion in annual revenues. Xylem is projected to have $3.6 billion in revenues and ITT Exelis would have $5.8 billion in revenues for 2011.

The split will result in three publicly traded companies. The remaining ITT Corp. will focus on manufacturing engineered industrial products and applied technology for the energy and infrastructure, electronics and transportation markets. It will keep the current corporate name and the New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol ITT. The spun-off companies are expected to be listed on the NYSE separately under two different ticker symbols.

“We are pleased to announce the names of these new companies, as this represents an important step forward in our transformation,” said Steve Loranger, current chairman and CEO of ITT who will serve as executive chairman at Xylem. “We are confident that these new businesses will emerge as leaders in their respective industries and firmly believe that ITT Corp., Xylem and ITT Exelis are all well positioned to create value for shareholders.”

On July 11, ITT filed Form 10 Registration Statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as a next step in the spinoffs. Separation remains on track to be completed by the end of the year.

ITT said the move will allow the companies to focus on their core competencies. The move is also designed to isolate into the new defense company the negative effect of planned cuts and delays in U.S. military spending.

Also, ITT said on July 11 that it is buying Ohio-based YSI Inc., a privately held manufacturer of sensors, instruments, software and data collection platforms for environmental water monitoring. YSI had 2010 global revenues of $101 million and employs 390 people at several facilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Completion of the acquisition is expected in the third quarter of this year.