Finnish elevator manufacturer KONE announced on Wednesday that it has acquired German competitor TKE’yi in a giant share and cash deal worth €29.4 billion.
The merged group will be almost twice the size of the current KONE group, with more than 100,000 ’ employees in more than 100 ’ countries and annual revenue of approximately €20.5 billion, the two companies said in a statement.
TKE’ is owned by a consortium of private equity groups Advent and Cinven’.
The new group will be based in Finland and will be led by Philippe Delorme, KONE’'s current French general manager.
In a joint statement, “, the transaction that revitalizes the industry, brings together two outstanding global businesses with complementary geographic footprints and innovation platforms, ” said.
This acquisition will allow KONE’ to gain strong access to markets and profitable service and maintenance contracts in the Americas’.
“KONE’'s presence in Asia’ is complemented by TKE’'s footprint on the Americas, and TKE opens up new geographies for KONE, leading to a balanced global presence.”
According to Finnish media, this was the largest corporate acquisition ever made in ’, Finland.
According to the statement, the consortium, which owns TKE’, will acquire 270 million shares worth 5 billion euros and the new KONE’den 15.2 billion euros. %It will have 33.8’ine.
The two groups expect annual synergies in the form of extra profits or cost savings of €700 million from the acquisition. The new company is expected to have a strong investable credit rating, while creating a strong cash flow.
The deal still needs approval from regulatory agencies and shareholders, and will likely be completed by 2027’.
