Pratt & Whitney sells turbine unit to Mitsubishi

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Pratt & Whitney is selling its turbine business in order to better focus more on its core aerospace and commercial businesses.

Terms of the sale of the Power Systems segment to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries were not disclosed Wednesday, but the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013.

Pratt & Whitney, subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., applied its airplane engine technology to industrial gas turbines, which use heat from geothermal or other heat sources to vaporize a fluid with a lower boiling point. The vapor creates pressure to power a turbine that generates electricity.

United Technologies has been selling non-aerospace businesses to finance its $18.4 billion purchase of aerospace parts maker Goodrich Corp. The Hartford conglomerate has sold its wind power company and is selling industrial companies that are part of its aerospace components manufacturer Hamilton ,

A spokesman for Pratt & Whitney said the Power Systems deal is separate from the sales to finance the Goodrich deal.

Analyst Rick Whittington of Drexel Hamilton said Power Systems sold 26 units this year, down from 28 in 2011. Shedding the Power Systems segment made sense as United Technologies streamlines its portfolio of businesses, he said.

"The business has been really flat," he said.