Bloomberg reported that Kone Oyj’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Henrik Ehrnrooth wants a full merger with Thyssenkrupp AG’s elevator unit, as the Finnish firm prepares a bid for its German rival’s crown jewel that could thwart interest from private equity. Mr Ehrnrooth would like Thyssenkrupp to be a major shareholder in the combined entity, he said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Helsinki. He sees significant synergies from a merger and believes potential antitrust hurdles that make the German firm’s management cautious about a deal can be overcome. Mr Ehrnrooth said that “The complementary fit of these two companies is just second to none. Clearly, we would welcome Thyssenkrupp as an owner in this new entity and that way share the long-term benefits with us.”
Crisis-hit Thyssenkrupp is preparing to sell a stake or list some of the elevator unit to raise much-needed cash. Potential suitors for the division, a high-margin business that’s profiting from a global mega-trend of urbanization, include rivals like Kone and around 10 private equity firms. Thyssenkrupp CEO Guido Kerkhoff has signaled to private equity bidders that he would prefer to sell a minority stake in the elevator unit to them. That way, the company could retain some control and swerve the kind of issues with competition regulations that torpedoed the planned steel joint venture with Tata Steel Ltd.
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