Pentair's electric division spinoff will be called nVent Electric, stay in Minnesota

When Pentair spins off its new electrical division, the Twin Cities will get a new U.S. public company headquarters.

The pumps and filtration giant Pentair — which also announced Tuesday that third-quarter earnings were down 11 percent — said its soon-to-be spun-off electrical division will be called nVent Electric PLC and will be headquartered at 5100 Gamble Dr. in St. Louis Park, just blocks from Pentair's existing U.S. headquarters.

The unit's global headquarters, like Pentair's, will be in England.

Beth Wozniak, who will become the new chief executive of nVent, said the U.S. headquarters site in St. Louis Park was selected in order to be mindful of those employees who already work for the division.

"We are excited. It's a great building that you can see right off Hwy. 100," said Wozniak, currently president of Pentair's electrical division.

Wozniak joined Pentair two years ago after spending 25 years at Honeywell, including as president of its Environmental and Combustion Controls division. Come the second quarter of 2018, she will take the reins of the new nVent and join the small club of female CEOs in the state.

Once formed, nVent will include Pentair's electrical, thermal and enclosures businesses. It will employ 9,000 people and have $2.1 billion in annual revenue.

It will have U.S. offices in California, Ohio and in Anoka, Minn., where roughly 1,100 employees make up the enclosures business. Between Anoka and St. Louis Park, nVent will have about 1,300 employees in Minnesota. nVent will also have offices and plants in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, China, India, Canada and Mexico.

Pentair, which is legally based in England but largely managed out of Golden Valley, first announced in May that it would split into two separate publicly held businesses — water and electrical — in a tax-free spinoff.

At the time, Pentair said the water company would retain the Pentair name and John Stauch, its chief financial officer, would become CEO.

Once the separation is complete, Pentair's current CEO Randy Hogan will retire as Pentair CEO and chairman and will become chairman of the new electrical company.

Wozniak said the nVent name is meant to "reflect the legacy of innovation across our portfolio of brands that will serve as the foundation for the new company as we execute on our mission to connect and protect our customers with inventive electrical solutions, create safer systems and ensure a more secure world."

As a high-performance electrical company, she said nVent will be focused on growth and helping customers make their operations safer and more efficient.

NVent's leadership team also will include Stacy McMahan, who will become chief financial officer. McMahan previously served as the chief financial officer of the medical device manufacturing firm Spectranetics Corp. and as CFO and treasurer of MSA Safety Inc.

Pentair on Tuesday also announced that third-quarter sales rose 1 percent to $1.23 billion, while earnings fell 11 percent to $125 million, or 69 cents a share.

Excluding one-time factors, third-quarter earnings rose to 95 cents a share from 78 cents a share. On average, analysts expected adjusted earnings of 93 cents a share and sales of $1.23 billion.

"We delivered strong margin expansion and earnings growth in the third quarter, led once again by strength in our residential, commercial, and short cycle industrial businesses," Hogan said in a statement. "Entering the last quarter of 2017, we believe we are well positioned to deliver against our full-year commitments even as we have faced higher inflationary pressures throughout the year. We remain confident in the momentum we are building as we exit 2017 and execute the separation of our water and electrical businesses."

Pentair updated its full-year guidance, saying that 2017 earnings are expected to be $2.41 per share. Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings are expected to be $3.53 per share. The company anticipates 2017 sales will be flat at $4.9 billion.

The company's stock fell slightly to $70.58 a share.

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725