Cummins’ filtration business filed paperwork for an initial public offering with regulators a year and a half after company officials said they would start exploring “strategic alternatives” for the business.
Atmus Filtration Technologies Inc., headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, filed paperwork Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ATMU. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined.
The filing comes about 10 months after Cummins said its filtration business had confidentially filed paperwork for a proposed IPO, a step that analysts said indicated that Cummins planned to separate its filtration into a standalone company.
An IPO is when a company’s stocks are sold publicly for the first time. IPOs are generally underwritten by investment banks that arrange for the shares to be traded on a stock exchange.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC will act as joint lead book-running managers and as representatives of the underwriters for the proposed offering, Cummins said. Baird, BofA Securities, and Wells Fargo Securities will also act as joint book running managers.
Steph Disher will continue to lead Atmus Filtration Technologies as CEO, Cummins said.
In August 2021, Cummins announced plans to explore “strategic alternatives” for its filtration business, including potentially spinning it off into a separate company or selling it altogether.
The business was founded in 1958 as the Seymour Filter Co., and designs, manufactures and sells air, fuel, hydraulic and lube filtration, as well as chemical technology products for diesel and gas-powered equipment around the world, according to its website.
Cummins’ filtration business employed around 4,000 people worldwide as of 2021, corporate spokesman Jon Mills said previously.
The company’s current name, Atmus Filtration Technologies, is derived from “atmosphere” and “reflects its purpose of creating a better future by protecting what is important,” Cummins said.
In 2021, then-Cummins Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger told financial analysts that the company was exploring “a range of options” for the business unit, telling financial analysts that “the business is doing great” but “we just think it can operate separately from us more effectively going forward.”
Tuesday’s regulatory filing with the SEC shows that Atmus had $1.56 billion in net sales in 2022, with 51% of sales coming from U.S. and Canadian markets.
“We maintain strong global customer relationships, supported by an established salesforce with work locations in 25 countries as of Dec. 31, 2022,” Atmus said in the SEC filing. “Also, as of Dec. 31, 2022, we operate through 12 distribution centers, nine manufacturing facilities and five technical facilities plus 10 manufacturing facilities and two technical facilities operated by our joint ventures, giving us presence on six continents.”
The IPO is expected to commence after the SEC completes its review process and is subject to market and other conditions, Cummins said.
