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Kone leads field with 17 billion euro bid for Thyssenkrupp elevators - sources

Published 28/01/2020, 17:38
Updated 28/01/2020, 17:38
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Finnish company KONE flags flutter at their headquarters in Espoo

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Finnish company KONE flags flutter at their headquarters in Espoo

By Christoph Steitz

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Finland's Kone (HE:KNEBV) has outbid rival suitors for Thyssenkrupp's (DE:TKAG) prized elevator division with a preliminary offer of 17 billion euros (£14.4 billion), two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Kone's offer represented an premium of about 1 billion euros over the best offer from leading competitors from the private equity world, according to one of the sources.

German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp declined to comment while officials at Kone were not immediately available for comment.

Other suitors for the elevator business include a consortium of buyout groups Advent and Cinven (CINV.UL) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which are working with Germany's RAG Stiftung, Reuters reported last week.

There is also a bidding team consisting of Blackstone (N:BX), Carlyle (O:CG) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and a third group led by Canada's Brookfield (TO:BAMa), Reuters reported.

The sales process is still ongoing and the field of bidders will get more opportunity to amend their offers, the sources said.

Kone boss Henrik Ehrnrooth said earlier on Tuesday that he was very interested in the elevators unit and saw significant "scale advantages". He was speaking after his company reported quarterly profit that beat expectations.

Kone, which is working with private equity firm CVC (CVC.UL), was due to make a bid on Monday for the unit, previously valued at around 15 billion euros.

Ehrnrooth said he believed Kone would not be interested in just a minority stake.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Finnish company KONE flags flutter at their headquarters in Espoo

Bloomberg earlier reported on the offer, saying Kone was seeking to clearly outbid private equity rivals to offset any concerns over antitrust scrutiny of the transaction.

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