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China: Midea Group announces bid for Germany’s Kuka

By  |  May 18, 2016

Chinese home-appliance maker Midea Group’s bid of more than $5 billion for German robotics specialist Kuka AG provides fresh evidence of China’s growing appetite for overseas deals.

Midea Group said Wednesday it was offering €115 a share, or about $130.20, for Kuka, one of Germany’s leading companies focused on industrial automation.

The offering price represents a 59.6% premium to Kuka’s closing price of €72.05 a share on Feb. 3, the day before Midea announced an increase in its stake in Kuka to 10.2%. Midea’s bid is one of the largest unsolicited approaches by a Chinese buyer on a foreign company.

Midea, which held 13.5% of Kuka when it launched the bid, said it intended to increase its stake above 30%, which requires an offer for all issued shares in the Augsburg, Germany-based company.

Midea said, which confirmed The Wall Street Journal’s earlier report of the bid, that the purchase would help its overall strategy of improving its facilities and expanding into robots, automation equipment and smart-home devices.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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