Is America’s last big industrial conglomerate about to break up?

Vimal Kapur, the boss of Honeywell, should have seen it coming. Industrial conglomerates like his have long been out of fashion. Between the beginning of June last year, when Mr Kapur took over at Honeywell, and November 11th the firm’s shares had risen by just 16%, compared with 46% for industrial companies in America’s S&P 500 index. On November 12th Elliott Management, a feared activist investor run by Paul Singer, announced it had taken a $5bn stake in the company, probably its largest ever such position, and called for Honeywell to break itself up. Investors seemed pleased with the idea, sending Honeywell’s shares up by 4% on the day of the announcement.