Most recently, Midea Group has announced to acquire the full equity of KUKA Aktiengesellschaft (hereinafter referred to as "KUKA", a robot titan, at 150 million euros (80.77 euros per share).
The Germany-based robotic company is widely known as one of the "Four Major Robots Families" (others include ABB in Switzerland, FANUC in Japan, and YASKAWA in Japan). There has been quite a journey in the acquisition. Started with an early offer in 2016, Midea possessed 94.55% of the companys shares after a trade-off was done in January 2017. On November 24, 2021, Midea spoke out about its commitment to a full-equity claim. KUKA has now marked its calendar to become a wholly-owned overseas subsidiary of Midea and will soon be delisted from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
At Midea, the purchase was long planned as a strategic move for expansion. As Midea continues to build up the To B business, robotics and automation systems are now two of Mideas five business frontiers. In 2021, at Midea-KUKA Smart Manufacturing Technology Park, nearly 18,000 robots were manufactured, ranking first in South China, accounting for about 5% of the output in China. In 2022, the park will continue to be expanded, as estimated to produce 30,000 robots.
Author | Jersey
Revisor | Eddie