HON Honeywell International Inc

By Josh Beckerman 

Honeywell International Inc. said Dave Cote will step down as chief executive on March 31 and be succeeded by Darius Adamczyk, who was promoted to president and chief operating officer in April.

Mr. Cote will continue as executive chairman through April 2018, and will then start a five-year consulting and noncompete agreement. Mr. Cote, who turns 64 years old in July, has run the conglomerate since 2002.

Honeywell has prided itself under Mr. Cote on a record of disciplined, well-executed midsize deals, building out product lines in areas like personal protective equipment and mobile scanners without overpaying for targets. Shares have risen 183% over the past decade, compared with a 60% gain in the S&P 500 index.

Honeywell shares, up 2.3% during the regular session Tuesday, slipped 7 cents to $113.99 in after-hours trading.

This year, Mr. Cote swung for the fences, attempting a $90 billion takeover of rival United Technologies Corp. that would have created an aerospace giant. But the offer was rebuffed, and United Technologies executives publicly attacked the deal as an impossibility because of likely objections by regulators and big aerospace customers.

Mr. Adamczyk's promotion in April was seen as a signal that Honeywell was beginning to plan for life after Mr. Cote. As president and operating chief, the 50-year-old oversaw Honeywell's wide array of business units, which make products ranging from fire alarms and thermostats to automotive turbochargers and rubber boots for firefighters.

Before that, Mr. Adamczyk -- who joined the company eight years ago -- had been leading the performance materials business since 2014. A native of Poland and an engineer, Mr. Adamczyk earned an M.B.A. from Harvard. He previously held executive roles at Ingersoll-Rand PLC and Metrologic Instruments Inc., a company Honeywell acquired.

In addition to making the succession announcement, Honeywell said board members plan to implement changes to the company's compensation plans after discussions with large shareholders.

The changes are expected to include making payouts under the annual incentive plan for senior executives "mostly formulaic and less discretionary" and rebalancing long-term incentive awards for senior executives to place majority weight on performance-based equity.

Honeywell also said Jaime Chico Pardo will be lead director through at least the 2018 annual meeting.

Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 28, 2016 18:06 ET (22:06 GMT)

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