By Inti Landauro 
 

PARIS--France's Schneider Electric SA (SU.FR) made a preliminary offer to take over U.K.-based Invensys (ISYS.LN), a competitor in the growing business of offering energy-management software and automation to industrial companies, in a bid to shift further from its traditional business of manufacturing electrical devices.

In a Thursday statement, Invensys said it received a preliminary offer from Schneider Electric that would value the company at 3.31 billion pounds ($5.03 billion), part of it in cash, part of it in Schneider shares. The French company has until Aug. 8 to make a firm offer, Invensys said in the statement.

Schneider offered to pay the equivalent of 505 pence per share. Invensys shares had closed Thursday at GBP4.40, up nine pence.

Schneider Electric confirmed it has opened talks with Invensys's board. "Schneider Electric believes that the strategic and financial rationale for this transaction, if consummated, is compelling," the company said in a separate statement. The acquisition will allow it to cut costs and gain market share, the statement said. Schneider didn't confirm filing a preliminary offer.

Under the helm of its chief executive, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider Electric has shifted from being a manufacturer of electrical devices such as panel boards, switches and circuit breakers, as well as automation equipment to an integrated provider of bundled deals, including gear plus service and software--a business with narrower profit margins, but less capital intensive.

The demand for these kinds of packages is particularly strong in emerging markets where the company has been growing, compared to sales in mature markets where business has been less predictable over the past four years. Mr. Tricoire and several top executives relocated in Hong Kong in 2011 to be closer to the company's customer bases.

The acquisition would be the first significant one since Schneider Electric took over software company Telvent in 2011, also a move into the business of packaged deals.

Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@dowjones.com

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