GE Agrees to Buy Honeywell for $45 Billion

Updated from 1:15 p.m. ET

General Electric (GE Quote) on Sunday agreed to acquire Honeywell International (HON Quote) for about $45 billion in stock.

GE will pay 1.055 of its shares for each Honeywell share, or $55 each. As part of the deal, GE Chairman Jack Welch will stay on past his scheduled April retirement date. Welch will remain in his post until the end of 2001 to help merge the two companies.

"Honeywell's core group of businesses -- avionics, automated controls, performance materials and its new microturbine technology -- are a perfect complement to four of GE's major businesses," Welch said in a statement. ...