【英语财经】美的拟收购德国自动化企业库卡 China’s Midea bids

A Chinese home-appliance maker is looking to clinch its second big overseas takeover in two months with an offer for Kuka that values the German automation group at ￠4.6bn.

Midea said yesterday that it had offered ￠115 a share for Kuka, which makes industrial robots used by Audi, BMW and Boeing. The offer is a 60 per cent premium on Kuka’s undisturbed price on February 3, before Midea said that it had raised its stake to 10 per cent.

That stake has risen to 13 per cent, and Midea was obliged under German law to make an offer for the rest of the shares because it planned to increase its stake beyond 30 per cent. Kuka said it would review the offer and consider public opinion. A person familiar with the offer said that Midea was “well aware” that Berlin would be wary about a Chinese company taking over a company connected to industrial data.

Midea has committed to Kuka’s independence, including its listing and Augsburg headquarters, and keeping the top shareholders in the company. It would not attempt a takeover if its offer was rejected, it added. Midea also ruled out seeking a domination agreement, required in Germany when a buyer seeks to integrate a target and control its cash flow.

Till Reuter, Kuka chief executive, said this month the South China group had “a very interesting operation”. Kuka had been in contact about automating more than 100 logistics centres, he said, but the relationship was “arm’s length”.

一家中国家用电器制造商正寻求敲定其两个月内第二笔大型海外收购交易——对库卡(Kuka)提出收购要约，对这家德国自动化企业估值46亿欧元。

美的(Midea)昨日表示，对库卡的要约报价为每股115欧元。库卡制造的工业机器人被奥迪(Audi)、宝马(BMW)和波音(Boeing)所使用。该报价较库卡2月3日（美的称增持其股份至10%之前）未受影响时的股价有60%的溢价。

美的持股已经升至13%。由于美的计划增持股份至30%以上，根据德国法律，它不得不对库卡剩余股份发出收购要约。库卡称，将研究该要约，并考虑公众意见。一名熟悉该要约的人士称，美的“很清楚”柏林方面会对中国企业收购与工业数据相关的德国企业抱有戒心。

美的承诺保持库卡的独立性，包括上市状态及奥格斯堡(Augsburg)总部，并且保留该公司的大股东。美的补充称，如果其要约被拒绝，它不会企图发起收购。美的也排除了寻求控制协议的可能。在德国，如果买家寻求整合目标并控制其现金流，需要达成控制协议。

库卡的首席执行官蒂尔?罗伊特(Till Reuter)本月表示，总部位于中国华南地区的美的拥有“非常有意思的业务”。罗伊特称，此前库卡与美的就100多个物流中心的自动化进行洽谈，但是两家公司的关系是保持一定距离的。

译者/马柯斯