Chinese appliance giant Midea Group Co (美的集團) yesterday said it has secured majority control of German industrial robotics supplier Kuka AG, with a multibillion-euro offer that stoked controversy in Europe.
Midea — best-known for selling washing machines and air conditioners — last month offered 115 euros (then US$130) per share for Kuka, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial robots.
It valued Kuka at 4.6 billion euros and was a near 60 percent premium to Kuka’s closing price before Midea announced it was increasing its stake in the German firm in February.
As of Wednesday, the offer had been accepted by holders of 43.74 percent of Kuka’s shares, the Chinese company said in a statement on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, where it is listed.
Adding the shares it already owns, it said it had “approximately 57.25 percent of the issued share capital and the existing voting rights of Kuka.”
The Kuka deal has raised concerns in Europe about the transfer of high-end technology to China, with European media reporting officials in Brussels and Berlin oppose a Chinese takeover of the firm — allegations denied by Berlin.
Separately, Chinese conglomerate HNA Group (海航集團) yesterday said its US$1.5 billion offer for a Swiss airline catering company had been successful, after it lowered the minimum acceptance level for the deal to go through.
HNA Group — best known as the parent of Hainan Airlines Co (海南航空) — bid 53 Swiss francs per share for Zurich-based gategroup in April, a more than 20 percent premium to its share price before the offer.
It set a minimum threshold of 67 percent of the shares, but only 63.6 percent accepted by the deadline of Friday last week.
In a joint statement with gategroup on its Web site, HNA said it was waiving the 67 percent threshold because it was "pleased" with the results and "it remains confident that more shareholders of gategroup will recognize the benefits of accepting the offer."
As such, it added, "the offeror declares the offer successful."
HNA has pledged to retain its current management and keep it headquartered in Switzerland.
The Swiss firm's management has endorsed the offer.
Shareholders have been given more time to accept the deal, which is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of this year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained